
) o 



c 



' ^ ^> s * r 





.0 



V 



POPULAR 

ECONOMIC BOTANY; 

OB 

DESCRIPTION 

OP THE 

BOTANICAL A-ND COMMEECIAL CHARACTEES 

OP THE 

PRINCIPAL ARTICLES OF YEGETABLE ORIGIN, USED FOR 
FOOD, CLOTHINa, TANNINa, DYEING, BUILDING, 
MEDICINE, PERFUMERY, ETC. 



BY 

THOMAS CROXEN ARCHER, 

COLLECTOB OP THE LIVERPOOL IMPOSTS EXHIBITED AT THE G-PvEAT ITfDTJSTBIAL 
EXHIBITIOIf OE 1851, AISTD APPOINTED COLLECTOB TOR THE DEPARTMENT 
OF APPLIED BOTANY IN THE NEW CRYSTAL PALACE, SYDENHAM. 



LONDOJN^ : 

REEVE AND CO,, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 

1853. 



JOHl^ EDWARD TAYLOE, PKIlfTEE, 
LITTLE QUEEIv STBEET, LIJfCOLN's INN FIELDS. 



TO 

JOSEPH DICKENSON, M.D., 

PEESIDENT OF THE LITEEAEY AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP 

LIVERPOOL, 

AND AIJTHOE OF THE ' FLOEA OF LIVEEPOOL 
AND 

BRAITHWAITE POOLE, ESQ., 

AIITHOE OF * STATISTICS OF BEITISH COMMEECE,' 

STfjfe ILittle Volumz 

IS WITH SINCEEE ESTEEM DEDICATED, 
BY THEIE aEATEFTJL FEIEND, 

THE AUTHOE. 



i 



PREFACE. 



^ — 

It will appear strange to many when they hear for the 
first time that no popular work has yet appeared^ devoted 
exclusively to the commercial products of the Vegetable 
Kingdom; much however has been written^ and WTitten 
well^ in various large works^ by several authors upon Botany 
and Materia Medica^ especially by Sir William Hooker^ Dr. 
Royle^ Dr. Lindley^, and Dr. Pereira^ and from their writings 
much of the information contained in this volume is derived. 
I am more particularly indebted to the last -mentioned gen- 
tleman. No one has done so much as Dr. Pereira tow^ards 
dissipating the cloud of ignorance which envelopes the his- 
tory of vegetable products ; and it is much to be regretted 
that, by his melancholy death, the splendid edition of his 
large work should have been left unfinished ; it is however 



VI 



PEEFACE. 



in able hands^ and will, doubtless, be completed in a manner 
worthy of the author. 

Vegetable products constitute nine-twelfths of the whole 
commerce in raw produce which employs the vast jnercan- 
tile marine of this great kingdom. They furnish us with 
the bulk of our food and clothing, our medicine and our 
building materials, and with many other necessaries and 
luxuries. It may be argued, that most of the benefits we 
derive from the vegetable kingdom have been discovered 
without the aid of science. True, but is not this a great 
and powerful argument in favour of the application of 
scientific investigation in this department ? for if so much 
has been done without its aid, how much may we not hope 
will be effected when the principles of scientific research, 
which have effected such miracles in every other depart- 
ment, are brought to bear upon that of Economic Botany ? 

Had not a scientific and practical botanist discovered the 
Gutta Percha, how many benefits would perhaps have been 
lost to civilization (unless some other article supplied its 
place in the submarine telegraphs) ; and, latterly, the inves- 



PEEFACE. 



Vll 



tigations of botanists have added hundreds of articles to 
our hst of commercial products. What is still in store for 
us we know not^ but we are certain that vast fields for 
discovery are still untouched, and remain to reward the 
scientific investigator. 

I was jjreparing to enter very fully into the commercial 
statistics of the articles described, when the glaring discre- 
pancies which met me in the different works professing to 
give this kind of information, almost led me to abandon the 
idea of giving any statistical details. The appearance of a 
work by my friend Mr. Braithwaite Poole, upon the Statistics 
of British Commerce, has however led to the removal in a 
great measure of my difficulties in this particular, and it will 
be seen that I have availed myself largely of his publica- 
tion; besides this, I am indebted to him for other useful 
information, which he has obtained for me through his ex- 
tensive railway connections. 

The classification adopted in the following pages is simple, 
being a mere division into groups, and the botanical in- 
formation is slight; they are, however, sufficient to show. 



Vlll 



PEErACE. 



along with the account of the uses of the articles described^ 
that quality and price do not constitute the only interesting 
points in their history. 

My experience in matters connected with commercial 
materials has been somewhat extensive : besides twelve 
years^ employment in the Import department of the Cus- 
toms, which has brought me into contact with most of the 
articles of foreign produce, I also formed the extensive col- 
lection of Liverpool Imports which was exhibited at the 
Great Industrial Exhibition of 1851, for which I received 
the Prze Medal and Certificate. Since then I have been 
acting for the directors of the New Crystal Palace at Sy- 
denham, as their agent for the collection of raw produce ; 
and in these occupations I have obtained some information 
which I trust may be useful, and obtain for me a lenient 
judgment for the literary defects of the book. 



Higher Tr4Nmere, Cheshire, 
May, 1853. 



T. C. A. 



LIST OF PLATES. 



Plate I. 

Fig. Page 

1 Tea plant 118 

2 Coffee plant 129 

B Cocoa plant 134 

4 E^ice plant 11 

5 Sugar Cane 135 

Plate II. 

6 Mai^e 9 

7 Buckwheat 16 

8 Long Pepper 103 

9 Black Pepper 102 

10 Clove plant 98 

Plate 111.^^'^^ 

11 Nutmeg plant 95 

12 Ginger plant 104 

13 Cinnamon plant 88 

14 AUspice plant 100 

Plate IV. 

15 Tamarind plant 42 

16 Olive plant 34, 264 



Fig. Page 

17 Guava plant 43 

18 Great American Cran- 

berry 48 

19 Pomegranate 33 

Plate Y. 

20 Litchi 44 

21 Prickly Pear 44 

22 Fig 26 

23 PeccanJVTut 64 

24 Hickory Nut 64 

25 Pistachio Nut 57 

Plate VI. 

26 Sapucaia Nut 53 

27 BrazH Nut 51 

28 SurahwaNut 54 

29 Cashew Nut 55 

30 Almond 67 

31 Ground Nut 65, 270 

Plate YII. ^ 

32 Cotton plant 170 



LIST OF PLATES. 



Fig. Page | 

33 Flax plant 148 

34 Hemp 151 

35 Jute 156 

36 Sun Hemp 158 

37 China (3-rass 163 

Plate VIII. ^ 

38 Carnauba Palm 281 

39 Eattan Palm 167 

40 Coquilla JN'ut Palm 165 

41 Manilla Plantain 158 

42 The on Palm 261 

V 

Plate IX. 

43 Sago Pahn 81 

44 Cocoa-nut Pahn 67,161,263 

45 American Aloe 160 

46 Gomuti Palm ...... 140, 164 

47 Date Palm 30 

Plate X. 

49 Vegetable Ivory Pahn 296 

50 Vegetable Ivory Nut 296 

51 Section of ditto 296 

52 Coquilla Nut 297 

53 The Nut turned 297 

U 

Plate XI. 
53 Arrowroot plant 76 



Fig. Page 

54 Turmeric plant, with 

starch tubers 77 

54 a Section of rhizome ... .77 

55 Section of Starch tuber 77 

56 Granules of Wheat 

Starch 73 

57 Granules of Potato 

Starch 73 

58 Manihot utilissima 78, 79 

Plate XII. 

59 Divi Divi 191 

60 Valonia 189 

61 Camata 189 

62 Camatina 189 

63 Pi-Pi 192 

J 

Plate XIII. 

64 Persian YeUow-berries 219 

65 Turmeric 213 

66 White GaU 227 

67 Blue GaU 227 

68 Myrobalan 198 

69 OrcheUa Weed 220 

70 Cudbear or Eock Moss 225 

y 

Plate XIV. 

71 Safflower plant 216 



LIST OF PLATES. 



XI 



¥ig. Page 

72 A cake of Safflower .... 217 

73 Indigo plant 229 

74 Block of Indigo 231 

75 Gamboge tree 235 

Plate XV. 

76 Logwood 201 

77 Fustic tree 207 

78 Munjeet 211 

79 Sumach 208, 220 

80 Madder 209 

Plate XYI. ^ 

81 Cardamom 322 

82 Castor Oil Seed 321 

83 Iris or Orrice Hoot .... 300 

84 Patchouly 299 

85 Camphor tree 314 

86 JN^ux Vomica 314 

Plate XVII. ^ 

87 Senna shrub 317, 318 

88 Peruvian Bark tree ... . 318 

89 Jalap plant 316 



Fig. Page 

90 Scammony plant 310 

91 Liquorice plant 313 

Plate XVIIL ^ 

92 Gum Benzoin 301 

93 Manna 312 

94 India Hubber plant... 253 

95 Gutta Percha plant... 255 

96 Piece of Haw Gutta 

Percha 256 

Plate XIX. 

97 Turpentine tree 249 

98 Canada Balsam tree . 251 

99 Piney TaUow tree .... 281 

100 Tar and Pitch tree 251, 252 

101 Juniper 274, 298 

Plate XX. 

102 Mahogany tree 335 

103 Lignum Vit^ tree .... 336 

104 Cedar tree (Pencil) ... 333 

105 Gum tree 340 

106 Ebony tree 330 



ERRATA. 



la Plate X., the figures numbered 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, should be num- 
bered 48, 49, 50, 51, 52: they are referred to by the correct numbers in 
the descriptive portion of the Work. 

In Plate XIX., /cr Gum Dammar, read Piney Tallow Tree. 



CONTENTS. 



DIVISION I, 
SUBSTANCES USED FOR FOOD. 



CHAPTEH I. 

PAGE 

FAUINACEOUS PRODUCTS 1 

CHAPTEE II. 

FRUITS 22 

CHAPTEE III. 
NUTS 50 

CHAPTEE IV. 

FECULAS OR STARCHES 71 

CHAPTEE V. 

SPICES 87 

CHAPTEE VI. 

MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES. . 118 



XIV CONTENTS. 

DIVISION II. 
PRODUCTS EMPLOYED IN MANUFACTURES. 

CHAPTEE YII. 

PAGE 

VEGETABLES USED FOR TEXTILE FABRICS .... 147 

DIVISION III. 

MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTS USED IN THE ARTS AND 
MANUFACTURING PROCESSES. 

CHAPTEE YIII. 



TANNING MATERIALS 187 

CHAPTEE IX. 

MATERIALS USED IN DYEING 200 

CHAPTEE X, 

GUMS USED IN THE ARTS 239 

CHAPTEE XL 

OILS, OIL-SEEDS, ETC. . . . . . . . .... 259 

CHAPTEE XII. 

MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES 284 



CONTENTS. XV 

DIVISION IV. 
MATERIA MEDICA. 

CHAPTEE XIII. 

PAGE 

MISCELLANEOUS MEDICINAL PRODUCTS 307 

DIVISION V. 
CONSTRUCTIVE MATERIALS. 

CHAPTEE XIV. 

BUILDING AND FUKNITURE WOODS 325 



POPULAR 



ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



CHAPTER 1. 

SUBSTANCES USED FOE EOOD. 
FARINACEOUS PRODUCTS. 

When the fiat went forth, In the sweat of thy face shalt 
thou eat bread/^ Almighty Justice pronounced a deserved 
sentence ; but^ much as fallen man had offended his Divine 
Creator, he was not forgotten entirely : labour^ it is true, had 
become his lot, but the fruitful earth was left, as before the 
fall, clothed with every necessary for man's wants, and re- 
quiring only the full exercise of those powers with which 
his Maker had gifted him, for their development. 

The class of substances which come under this chapter 
are peculiarly of this character : the staple food of more 

B 



2 POPULAE ECONOMIC BOTANY. 

than four-fifths of the human race is formed from the small 
grains of various grasses^ which^ even if they required no 
more labour than merely collecting and preparing, would 
at least enforce industry ; but requiring, as they do, careful 
cultivation in well- worked soil, it is indeed only with the 
sweat of the brow that we can eat the bread which is neces- 
sary to our existence. 

Poremost in the rank of food-products, and especially of 
those called cereals, stands Wheat, too well known to re- 
quire any particular description. It is a true grass (be- 
longing to the Natural Order Graminacece) , but has been 
so changed by cultivation that we are totally ignorant of its 
natural state Botanists have named it Triticum Jiylernum, 
or Triticum vulgare, variety ^ liyhernum, Winter Wheat, — 
this is the commonest kind of wheat; another, which is 
almost as well known, is called Triticum vulgare, variety a 
cestivunij or Summer Wheat. The former is biennial in its 
habits — that is, it is sown one year and flowers and fruits 

Unless the experiments of M. Fabre maybe relied upon. He states 
tbat he found by successive experiments upon the apparently insignifi- 
cant grass ^gilops ovata, that it first sported (as gardeners call it) 
jE. triticoides, and from that, by successive changes, extending over seve- 
ral years, it passed to wheat itself, — not so fine as our highly cultivated 
varieties, but nevertheless wheat it was, unmistakeably. 



WHEAT. 



3 



the year following ; but the latter is sown and perfected all 
in one year. 

Much discussion has arisen amongst scientific men^ as to 
the native country of the wheat ; the evidence however ap- 
pears to be in favour of a district of Eussia in Asia^ inha- 
bited by the Bashkirs^ where it is supposed the wheat-plant 
has been found growing wild. This district is in the 
Russian Government of Orenburg, and is inhabited by a 
warlike race of men^ of Turco-Mongolian origin^ who are 
admirable cultivators of various kinds of grain, and are 
particularly celebrated both for their excellent management 
of bees, and bravery in defending the Kirghiz steppe for the 
Emperor. If this Tartar province is indeed the original 
country of the Triticum vtdgare, the culture of which em- 
ploys millions of our fellow-men, and the produce of which 
feeds hundreds of millions, it should be to us the most in- 
teresting spot on the globe, instead of an almost unknown 
comer of the Czar^s dominions. 

Besides the two varieties mentioned, there are several 
others which are occasionally grown, viz. variety d, T, tiirgU 
dum (a name which signifies swollen), the ear is short and 
irregularly thick ; variety T, turgidum composUim, this is 
not only short and thick, but several small secondary ears 



4 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



take their rise from the principal ear^ giving the appearance 
of a small bunch of ears. It is the Mummy Wheat, which 
has latterly excited so much curiosity^ in consequence of a 
statement having been circulated^ that it originated from 
some grains found in the hand of an Egyptian mummy, 
where it had lain many centuries without germinating, but 
upon being sown produced plants, from which the seed now 
termed mummy wheat was raised. This tale is however 
generally disbelieved; mummy wheat has always been the 
chief kind cultivated in Egypt and Abyssinia, and much 
also is grown in Greece; some botanists have thought it a 
distinct genus, in consequence of the compound structure 
of its ear, but this character is not found to be permanent. 

The other kinds are the Polish Wheat {Triticum Poloni- 
<yiwi)\ though called Polish wheat, it is more extensively cul- 
tivated in Northern Africa than elsewhere; Spelt Wheat 
(Tritmim Sjoelta), and the One-grained Wheat {T, monocoe- 
cum), the ear of which is small, compressed, and only two- 
rowed, like barley, are not much cultivated. Wheat is im- 
ported chiefly for the purpose of being ground into flour 
for making bread ; large quantities are also consumed in the 
manufacture of fine starch, and as flour in dressing cotton 
fabrics. It comes to us from almost all parts of the globe : 



OATS. 



5 



the finest of the European kinds is from Dantzic^ the grain 
of which is large^ white^ and very thin-skinned; besides 
almost every port in Europe and North America^ we receive 
it from Northern Africa, the East Indies, AustraUa, and oc- 
casionally from the Brazils. The quantity of wheat grown 
in the United Kingdom is about 144,000,000 bushels, or 
18,000,000 quarters; in addition to this we import nearly 
4,000,000 quarters"^. In Great Britain it is estimated that 
5,000,000 acres of land are annually covered with this 
grain. 

The next of the cereals in importance is the Oat — Aiie- 
na sativa — the use of which is also very ancient ; it is not 
however mentioned in the Scriptures, although frequently 
referred to by Grecian and Roman writers ; Dioscorides and 
Pliny both mention it. It is a true grass [Graminace^e) , 
and is one of the most beautiful of its tribe : nothing can 
exceed the graceful elegance of the oat, with its large pa- 
nicles of flowers hanging from their hair-Hke pedicels. 

Although known to the ancients, there is no reason to 
believe that this kind of grain was common, for even at an 
early period of the Christian era the tyrant Caligula is re- 
ported to have fed his horses with gilded oats : we can hardly 

* Vide Braithwaite Poole's Statistics of British Commerce (Art. Corn). 



6 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



imagine the oats mentioned were literally gilded^ but must 
presume the expression applied to the golden colour of the 
grain. 

Many varieties of the oat are cultivated^ but the princi- 
pal ones are the White^ and the Black or Tartarian oat ; both 
are annual plants. One called the Potato Oat is a great 
favourite in Scotland. In the admirable synopsis published 
by Peter Lawson and Son^ the eminent Edinburgh seedsmen, 
sixty varieties are mentioned. The quantity of oats im- 
ported is very inferior to that of wheat : in 1850 we received 
1,165,876 quarters, nearly aU of which came from the 
northern ports of Europe; but the quantity cultivated in 
Great Britain far exceeds that of all other cereal grains 
added together ; the total quantity given for England, Ire- 
land, and Scotland, in Poolers Statistics, being 30,500,000 
quarters, or 244,000,000 bushels. 

In the northern parts of the kingdom the oat forms the 
staple article of human food ; but its greatest use is in feed- 
ing horses. When the bran, or outer integument of the 
grains, is removed, they are called "Groats,^^ or when 
skinned and partially crushed, Embden Groats,^^ which are 
much used in making the light and easily digested invalid 
diet called gruel. 



BARLEY. 



7 



Barley. Hordeum distichon. (Nat. Ord. Graminace(B,) 
Another grass^ the seeds of which are of immense import- 
ance to man ; besides this^ the common species^ there are 
three others more or less cultivated. Barley has long figured 
as an economic product of the Vegetable Kingdom. 
Amongst the Egyptians it was well known, and its discovery 
and first culture was by Diodorus Siculus and others at- 
tributed to Osiris. Pliny, in his ' Natural History/ says 
barley was the most ancient food of mankind. In the 
Book of Exodus, dating fifteen hundred years before Christ, 
we find it mentioned as an ordinary crop, thus, in ch. ix., 
verse 31, ^^And the flax and the harley was smitten: for 
the barley was in the ear, and the flax was boiled and we 
find it again mentioned in Euth ii. 17, ^^She gleaned in 
the field until even, and beat out that she had gleaned, and 
it was about an ephah of barley .^^ Its native country is un- 
known, but by some authors is supposed to be Tartary. The 
common names of the four species are Long-eared or Common 
Barley (ZT. distichon)^ Spring Barley {H, vulgare). Winter 
Barley {H. hexastichon), and Sprat or Battledore Barley {H, 
zeocriton) . The Spring barley is in Scotland usually styled 
Bere or Bigg ; it is an inferior kind, but valuable from its 
thriving on poor soil and in exposed localities. 



8 



POPULAE ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



Barley is not so much used for food now as formerly. 
Barley-bread^ once tlie common food of the poorer classes, 
is rarely seen in this country ; its great use is in making 
beer and spirits. For beer it is first malted, (a process which 
consists in inducing germination in the grain,) by soaking 
it in water and applying heat; this causes the barley to 
shoot, and as soon as vitality is once commenced, the starch 
which existed abundantly in the grain is converted into 
sugar, which, if fermented, is easily convertible into the 
half-vinous beer, or, by a little increased fermentation, into 
alcohol. The quantity grown in the United Kingdom is 
very large, amounting to nearly 10,000,000 quarters; but 
the imports are comparatively small, being only 51,000 
quarters in 1851, all from the north of Europe. 

Rye. Secale cereale. (Nat. Ord. Graminacea.) 

A. native of the Caucaso-Caspian Desert. It is much cul- 
tivated in the North of Europe, where it enters largely into 
the food of the inhabitants; it is highly nutritive, but 
nevertheless is not much used in this country, where a pre- 
judice exists against it, arising very probably from the serious 
and fatal accidents which have been occasioned by the vege- 
table poison called Ergot of Rye. The ergot is a fungous 
plant which affects the grain, considerably altering its di- 



INDIAN COHN. 



9 



mensions and appearance ; the diseased grain being usually 
about an inch in length and of a jet-black colour. "When 
mixed with the rye in large quantities — which happens some 
seasons — its effects are very dreadful^ giving rise to ulcera- 
tion and mortification of the extremities. These injurious 
effects could hardly happen now that the means of cleaning 
grain and the methods of cultivating it are so much im- 
proved ; nevertheless it is far less cultivated than its other- 
wise wholesome qualities would seem to demand. The 
quantity imported into the United Kingdom in 1849 was 
241,613 quai-ters, and in 1850 94,078 quarters. {Poole's 
Statistics,) 

Indian Coen — Maize. Zea Mays, (Nat. Ord. Grawi- 
nacem,) (Plate II. fig. 6.) 

A native of Tropical America. Within the last century 
this grain has become of immense importance to the human 
family, furnishing, in countries adapted to its cultivation, 
enormous quantities of a wholesome and nutritive diet. Its 
culture has spread over the whole of the American continent^ 
throughout most parts of Asia and Africa, and the southern 
parts of Europe ; it is remarkably prolific, and is cultivated 
with less labour probably than any other grain. Its culture 
has led to the production of numerous varieties, amongst 



10 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



which the most conspicuous are the Large White^ the Large 
Yellow^ and the Eed American sorts^ and the Small Yellow 
of Southern Europe. 

Owing to its deficiency in gluten^ maize is not well adapted 
for making bread ; it is however made into cakes^ which are 
much esteemed in North America. Throughout the whole 
of the American continent and islands it enters largely into 
the common food of the people^ in a great variety of ways. 
Like oats^ it is reduced to meal^ the pericarp or bran re- 
maining mixed with the flour. In the preparation called 
Jiomminy, the grain is first soaked^ and then exposed to a 
drying heat^ which causes the bran to crack and peel off, it 
is then easily separated : in this state it is much used for 
puddings and other dishes. Pop-corn is another prepa-j 
ration, made by slightly baking the unripe grains, whichj 
makes them turn inside out, giving them the appearance of | 
tapioca : this is also a favourite method of using the corn, S 

Several attempts have been made, but without success, to 
cultivate maize in England : our summer is too short, and 
our autumn too humid ; it is however extensively imported 
from the United States and Italy, and used for feeding cat- 
tle, etc., but is not regarded with much favour as human 
food. The imports in 1847 (the year in which the potato- 



11 



crop failed) were 3,614,637 quarters; in 1850, 1,286,263 
quarters'^. The maize belongs to the Class Moncecia and 
Order Triandria of Linnaeus, because, like a few others of 
the GramiriacecBj it has its stamens and pistils in different 
flowers on the same plant; the staminiferous flowers are 
borne in a tuft on the summit of the plant, the pistilliferous 
ones rise from the axils of the leaves, which, as in most 
grasses, are sessile along an unbranched stem. The peri- 
anth, or floral envelope, of the pistil flower, remains until 
the grain ripens, and in the South of Europe is very exten- 
sively used in packing oranges and lemons ; it is also used 
in South America by the Spaniards in making cigarrettos, 
for which purpose the very thin Indian corn covers are se- 
lected, and small squares are cut from them, in which the 
tobacco is rolled. These perianths have also been manufac- 
tured into very good paper. 

Rice. Oryza sativa, (Nat. Ord, Gmminace^B.) (Plate I. 
fig. 4.) 

This useful grain is a native of the East Indies, whence 
it has spread to all the warm parts of Asia, Africa, and the 
southern parts of America ; its habit of growth is very much 
like the oat, the grain hanging gracefully from the very 

* Poole's Statistics. 



12 



POPULAE ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



thin hair-like pedicels of an elegant loose panicle, less how- 
ever than that of the Oat. Although several ill effects, and 
even cholera"^ itself, have been attributed to the use of this 
food, nevertheless these accusations are not well-founded, 
for, on the contrary, rice appears from its astringency to 
be admirably adapted to the use of the natives of warm cli- 
mates, where it nsually constitutes the staple food of the 
lower classes. Its antiquity is very great : Cast thy bread 
upon the waters, and it shall return to thee after many 
days,^^ evidently applies to rice, which, in Egypt, is always 
sown whilst the waters of the Nile still cover the surface of 
the land ; the returning floods leave a thick deposit of rich 
alluvial silt, in which the rice vegetates luxuriantly, being 
naturally a marsh plant. The rice from the Southern States 
of North America is decidedly the best, being much sweeter, 
larger, and better-coloured than that of Asia, where its cul- 
tivation is less carefully managed. The States of Carolina 
produce the best American, and Patna the best East Indian 
rice. 

Like wheat and other grain, the rice is that particular 

* In the ^Lancet/ 1833-4, vol. i., Dr. Tytler attributes malignant 
cholera to the use of rice as food, in consequence of which he named the 
disease morbus oryzeus. 



\ 



GUINEA COEN. 



IS 



form of fruit which is called a cari/opsis : its characters are 
that the pericarp or seed-covering appears to cover the seed 
so closely as to form a portion of it : thus the seed-vessel of 
the wheat is the brown covering which constitutes the bran, 
and cannot be removed without breaking the enclosed white 
seed; in the rice how^ever the pericarp is not so closely 
adherent, and can be removed by slight pressure, which 
causes it to split and come off without injuring the enclosed 
seed. It often comes to us in the husk, and is then called 
paddy, an Indian name. In this country immense quan- 
tities are consumed, but rather as a luxury, in the form of 
puddings and confectionery, than as a principal article of 
food. In India a species of arrack, or strong spirit, is dis- 
tilled from paddy. The straw has lately been much used 
in plaiting for ladies^ bonnets. The beautiful Chinese ma- 
nufacture called rice-paper is erroneously supposed to be 
manufactured from this grain : its proper history will appear 
in another chapter. 

The quantity of rice imported into Great Britain in 
1851, according to Poolers Statistics, was 41,121 tons; but 
of this enormous quantity a large proportion is again ex- 
ported to our North American colonies and to the countries 
of Northern Europe. 



14 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



Guinea Coen^ Darra^ Durra^ or Turkish Millet, called 
in India Joar, — Tlie seed of Andropogon Sorghum. (Nat, 
Ord. Graminacecc.) 

A roundisli grain, in shape not nnlike the maize, but not 
of greater bulk than a small grain of wheat ; its colour is a 
yellowish- white, in some varieties marked with a black spot. 
It is borne in loose tufts or panicles, several grains being 
attached to each of the upright pedicels at short distances 
from each other ; the stalks are about eighteen inches to two 
feet in height, and when dry are very rigid, — in this state 
they are much used in the manufacture of carpet-brooms 
and whisks. The grain itself is chiefly used in this country 
for feeding poultry ; it is however strongly suspected that 
wheaten flour is not unfrequently adulterated with it when 
it is in the market, but this can only occasionally take place, 
as the importation of Durra is very irregular. It is much 
used as food for the black population in the West Indies, 
whence it has been called negro corn : they make of it cakes 
about an inch thick, which are white, and tolerably palat- 
able. It is also used by the poorer peasants of Italy. All 
kinds of poultry, pigs, cattle, and even horses eat it with 
avidity. The quantity imported is very uncertain, some 
years passing without any arrivals of Durra, while at other 



MILLET. 



15 



times many hundreds of quarters arrive. It comes chiefly 
from Northern Africa; it is however cultivated largely in 
the United States^ "West and East Indies, and in Southern 
Europe. It is a native of India. 

Millet. — There are several distinct species of grain com- 
mercially known by this name ; they all belong to the same 
Natural Order [Graminacece) , 

1. The Italian Millet — Setaria Italica — is a small round 
grain, much like mustard-seed, but rather more than half its 
size ; it is sweet and wholesome ; its use in this country is 
almost wholly confined to confectionery. It is cultivated 
and used extensively in India, under the name of Koon- 
goonie, Kala-kangnee, and Kora-kang. It is grown chiefly 
in the neighbourhood of Calcutta. 

2. German Millet — Setaria Germanica — which is very 
little used, except for feeding cage-birds. 

3. Millet Proper — Panicim miliaceum — is a native of the 
East Indies, where it is extensively cultivated, under the 
names of Warree and Kadi-kane. The principal districts in 
which it is grown are Madura, Palamcottah, and Tinnevelly. 

Several other species are used for food in various parts of 
the world, but those mentioned are the only ones which are 
brought to this country, and of them only very small quan- 



16 



POPULAE ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



titles are imported^ the arrivals of which are very irregular 
and uncertain. 

Canaey Seed. Phalaris Canariensis. (Nat. Ord. Gra- 

minace^e,) 

Though not used for human food^ this seed is very exten- 
sively used in this country in feeding cage-birds^ for which 
purpose it is both grown and imported. Many acres are 
annually cultivated with this crop in Kent^ and we some- 
times receive several hundred quarters from Germany^ where 
its culture receives considerable attention. The Isle of 
Thanet is the chief place of its culture in England^ and 
here its straw when cut into chaff is highly valued as fodder 
for horses. 

Buckwheat. Fagopynm esculenimn, (Nat. Ord. Poli/- 
gonacecE.) (Plate II. fig. 7.) 

Probably a native of England ; it is much cutivated in 
Northern Europe and in North America^ where^ in the form 
of buckwheat cakes^ it is a favourite food. It comes occa- 
sionally to this country from Germany^ chiefly for use as 
seed. It forms excellent food for pheasants^ and for that 
purpose is sown extensively in the vicinity of game-preserves. 
The seed is about twice the size of mustard-seed^ rather 
longer than broad^ and having three sharp angles running 



PEAS. BEANS. 



17 



longitudinally ; the colour is a dark brown ; it is deprived of 
its husk in a manner similar to that employed with rice, and 
the kernel is then ground to a coarse meal. Small quan- 
tities of this meal occasionally reach us from the United 
States, but chiefly as presents; there is no regular com- 
mercial demand. 

Peas, or Pease (both names are commonly used, com- 
mercially). Fismn sativum, (Nat. Ord. Leguminosce.) 

This is the common white garden-pea in a ripened state. 
We annually receive large quantities from Dantzic and other 
northern ports, which are used as food for man and various 
domestic animals. The quantity of peas imported into the 
United Kingdom in 1850 was 181,419 quarters, and about 
four times that quantity was home-grown. 

Beans. Faha vulgaris, (Nat. Ord. Leguminosce,) 

The only kind of bean imported in any considerable 
quantities is the Egyptian or common horse-bean, w^hich is 
largely consumed for feeding horses. The same species is 
extensively cultivated in this country, but the consumption 
is so great, that not less than 443,306 quarters were im- 
ported in 1850. Previous to 1845 the average imports of 
five years was 161,418 quarters, whilst in the succeding five 
years it increased to 415,655 quarters; the greatest quan- 

c 



18 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



tity was in 1848^ when not less than 480,706 quarters w^ere 
received from Alexandria and Cairo. 

Beans (American Haricot) — Phaseolus vulgaris, — There 
are several varieties of this bean, differing only in colour ; 
the white is most used, and during the scarcity which re- 
sulted from the failure of the potato-crop in 1847 and 
1848, about 1200 quarters were sent to England from the 
United States. These beans were usually boiled and eaten 
as a vegetable with animal food ; by many persons they were 
much liked, but w^ere not generally considered easy of di- 
gestion. They are the same species as the French bean of 
the gardens, and the French Haricot, but are an inferior 
variety. 

Taees, or Vetches. Vicia sativa, (Nat. Ord. Legit- 
/ninosce.) 

The tare is a common crop in our own fields, and, being 
cut when the plant is green as fodder for cattle, the ripened 
seeds are only used for the purpose of sowing, and are usu- 
ally raised by our farmers and seedsmen ; a few hundred 
quarters are however annually imported from Norway and 

Denmark and the North of Germanv. 

(/ 

Lentils. Ervum Lens, (Nat. Ord. Leguminosce,) 
The large lentil, which we receive from Prance, and usually 



CHICK-PEA. 1-9 

V 

imported by the Italian warehousemen^^ is sold by them for 
making soup similar to that made from peas. The article so 
much advertised as food for infants and invalids under the 
name of Eevalenta Arabica is the farina of the lentil freed 
from the outer skin,, which is considered unwholesome. 

The small Egyptian Lentil [Ervum Lenticula), originally 
a native of Carinthia^ is occasionally imported in considerable 
quantities : it is chiefly used in feeding cattle. It is of a 
red colour, and scarcely half the size of the French lentil. 
As none of the genus Ervum are natives of Asia, it is most 
probable that the lentils mentioned in Holy Writ were the 
White Lupins {Lupinus albus: Leguminosce) , which are not 
only natives of Asia, but are now extensively cultivated in 
many parts of Asia and Southern Europe for the purposes 
of food. These white lupins are occasionally imported into 
England in small quantities, chiefly for the use of the resi- 
dent Italians, who are fond of this kind of pulse. 

Ceci, Cicee, or Chick-Pea. Cicer arietimim, (Nat. 
Ord. Leguminos^e,) 

This pulse somewhat resembles the white pea, but is rather 
larger and more irregularly shaped. It is much used in 
Eastern countries, as a nutritious food, under the name of 
Gram. When roasted, it is said to sustain life longer than 



20 , POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



any other food in small quantities ; hence it is much used by 
travellers over the deserts^ where the carriage of bulky food 
is inconvenient. It is imported occasionally, but for what 
purpose is not very clear^ — it is thought for the purpose of 
roasting and grinding up with coffee as an adulteration. 

This probably is the best place to mention a few seeds 
which are imported in considerable quantities, wholly for 
agricultural purposes, either because they are better ripened 
abroad, or because the supply of home-raised seed is insuffi- 
cient to meet the demand. 

Lucerne Seed — Medicago sativa {Legiiminosce) . — A small 
reddish-yellow seed, not quite so long, but thicker than a 
carraway seed, and the skin is quite smooth. It is a native 
of Britain, but is often imported from Holland and France. 

Clover (Dutch) — Trifolium repens [LeguminoscB) , — This 
seed is extensively imported from Holland and Germany. 
Although a native of most parts of Europe, it ripens best 
in those countries, and the imported seed is much esteemed. 
It is a minute kidney-shaped seed, less than half the size of 
a mustard-seed, and of a yellow or brown colour. 

Clover (American) — Trifolium 'Pennsylvanicum, — Of this 
species we receive very large quantities. It is found par- 
ticularly weU adapted for culture in this country, and the 



IMPORTED SEEDS. 



21 



imports have reached nearly 400 tons annually. As its name 
imports^ it is a native of Pennsylvania^ in the United States. 
In form it resembles the Dutch Clover, but its colour is a 
reddish-yellow. 

Timothy Seed, or Timothy-grass Seed — Phleum pratense 
{Graminacece) , — A beautifully small and silky little grass- 
seed, which is sent in rather large quantities from North 
America. This and the following are the only kinds of 
grass-seed imported in quantities of commercial importance. 

Italian Rye-grass Seed — Lolmm Italicum [Graminaceae), 
— A large coarse kind of grass-seed, the produce of which 
is much esteemed for its rapid growth and bulk. Prom 
five to six hundred bags and bales are annually imported 
from the Levant. 



22 



CHAPTER II. 

ERUI-TS. 

Those vegetable products which we shall describe in this 
chapter naturally divide themselves into two sections — " The 
Eleshy Eruits and " The Nuts/^ They are numerous and 
very interesting ; coming as they do from almost all parts 
of the globe^ they give us much information respecting the 
aspect of the Vegetable Kingdom in the distant regions from 
whence they are brought. Some are rare^ and do not often 
meet the eye of even those who are curious in such things ; 
others arrive in such enormous quantities as to furnish em- 
ployment for an immense amount of tonnage in shipping, 
and many hundreds of thousands of persons, constituting 
an important source of revenue, and giving us an abundance 
of particularly useful and wholesome food. 



THE GRAPE. 



23 



The Fleshy Peuits. — The most important of these in 
every respect is 

The Grape. Vitis vinifera. (Nat. Ord. Vitaceoe,) 
With the exception of the '^forbidden fruit of the tree 
of knowledge/^ the grape is the first fruit mentioned in the 
history of the worlds for we find it stated in Genesis ix. that 
^^Noah began to be a husbandman^ and he planted a vine- 
yard : and he drank of the wine.^^ This was at least four 
thousand years from the present time; we may therefore 
safely conclude that the vine is a native of Asia^ whence it 
has followed the tide of civilization into Europe and Africa. 
It is now luxuriating in the genial climates of North Ame- 
rica and AustraKa^ where it bids fair to be of immense im- 
portance. 

Since the time of Noah^ history furnishes us with a con- 
tinuous series of facts^ proving that this fruit has been con- 
stantly cultivated for the wine made from its juice. It has 
furnished an endless theme for poets and for prose-writers^ 
and from its noble qualities has supplied both prophets and 
bards with striking similes and metaphors. Even the Ee- 
deemer_, who despised nought that the Eather had created^ 
said^ I am the vine, and ye are its branches and his own 
blessed blood he likened to the juice of the grape. 



24 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



Of wine^ the manufactured juice of the grape, we could 
say much that would be interesting, but it does not belong 
to a history of raw materials ; we may however state^ as a 
proof of its importance, that the quantity imported into the 
United Kingdom in 1850 was not less than 7,970,067 
gallons, of which only 1,691,702 gallons were re-exported. 
We receive comparatively few grapes in a fresh state ; about 
three hundred tons arrive every autumn from Sicily, Lisbon, 
and Hamburg ; the latter, the produce of Germany, are finely 
coloured round black grapes ; the former, from Sicily and 
Portugal, are oval berries, in large bunches, and both black 
and white. They suffer much in flavour from being closely 
packed, and stiU more from the use of sawdust as a packing 
material. 

Eaisins, or Dried Grapes {Uvce passes majores), by far 
the most important form in which this fruit is received, 
are of various kinds, according to the variety of grape 
from which they are prepared, or the mode of their prepa- 
ration ; thus, some varieties are stoneless, presenting the cu- 
rious anomaly of a true fruit being perfected without seed, 
a peculiarity which occasionally takes place in highly cul- 
tivated plants : this, although in the first instance only an 
accidental variety, yet is capable of being propagated and 



RAISINS. 



35 



rendered permanent. The Sultana raisin, which we receive 
from Smyrna, is of this kind ; the black raisin of Smyrna is 
quite the reverse, for it has remarkably large seeds and poor 
berries, besides being of a black, instead of a very light reddish- 
brown, colour. Other raisins are distinguished by the mode 
in which they have been preserved ; thus, the finest are dried 
on the vines, and when ripe the stalk of the cluster is partly 
cut through, and the leaves removed from near it, by which 
means the drying is facilitated, and the fruit acquires a fine 
bloom : these Muscatels, or Raisins of the Sun, are the finest 
quality. The commoner kinds are gathered when fully 
ripe ; they are then hung on lines, or laid on floors to dry, 
and then dipped into a l^e of wood-ashes and barilla, of about 
I'llO specific gravity, to every four gallons of which is added 
a handful of salt and a pint of oil. The effect of this immer- 
sion is to make the saccharine secretions exude to the sur- 
face, giving the fruit the pecuhar brown varnished appear- 
ance which distinguishes the ordinary raisins from those used 
for tbe table. The kinds usually imported, besides those 
mentioned, are Yalencias, Lexias, and Denias, from Spain ; 
Malagas from Malaga; and Red Smyrnas from Turkey. 
The average annual quantity imported during the last five 
years has been about 13,000 tons. 



26 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



Ctjerants.- — A curious variety of the grape, which, besides 
its extreme smallness, is also deficient in seeds or stones. 
Originally Corinth was the principal place of its culture, — 
whence the name Currants, or, as they were formerly called, 
Corinths. Enormous quantities are cultivated in the Greek 
Islands of Patras, Corfu, Licata, Zante, Ithaca, etc., which 
are dried and trod into large casks, and exported. The im- 
ports of Great Britain exceed 21,000 tons annually. This 
fruit is largely consumed in confectionery and culinary pre- 
parations, by all classes of people, and is very much esteemed. 

The Pig. Ficus Carica. (Nat. Ord. TJrticacecB,) (Plate V. 
fig. 22.) 

The fig is a peculiar form of fruit, differing materially 
frbm most others in its botanical characters : it is, in fact, 
nothing more than an inverted fleshy receptacle. It may be 
explained thus : examine the sunflower, and it will be found 
that the large head [capitulum) or flower, as it is commonly 
termed, consists of a great number of small florets, placed close 
to each other, upon the surface of a flat disc or receptacle ; 
now we have only to imagine this receptacle turned up at 
the edges until they meet all round, the florets wonld then 
be enclosed, and we should have a fruit similar to the fig. 
After the internal, florets of the fig have performed their 



THE FIG. 



27 



functions, the receptacle increases in bulk, and buries all the 
carpels, with their seed, in its sweet pulpy flesh : this con- 
stitutes our fig. The pulp is highly saccharine, containing 
not less (in fine Smyrna figs) than 62 per cent, of a par- 
ticular variety of sugar called Sugar of Figs. There is 
sometimes a failure in the fig-crop, when it is not properly 
attended to, in consequence of the pistils of the florets not 
becoming fertilized by the pollen of the stamens. It is 
supposed that this operation is caused naturally by the entry 
of insects through the very small orifice which remains open 
in the flowering fig ; the fig-growers therefore adopt artificial 
means to ensure the fertilization — a small feather is inserted 
and turned round in the internal cavity : this operation is 
called caprification. They are either dried in the sun, or in 
ovens built for that purpose. Those which are called pulled 
figs^^ are the best. Two principal kinds of pulled figs come 
from Smyrna, whence we receive most of the Turkey figs ; 
the better of the two is called ^'Eleme'' or ^'Elemi,^^ and 
the oi\iQii '^selected'' 

The fig-tree grows to a considerable size, and affords a 
grateful shade in those parts of Asia where it is cultivated. 
It is the first tree mentioned by name in Holy Writ, its broad 
and handsome leaves having furnished the first clothing for 



28 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



our race. It has always been esteemed for a variety of valuable 
qualities. In Isaiah xxxviii. 21 we find it used by Heze- 
kiah as a remedy for boils ; and even now^ 2400 years after 
that time^ we find a roasted fig often used for that and si- 
milar purposes. 

Many important trees are closely allied to the fig^ as^ for 
instance^ the Bread-fruity the deadly Upas-tree^ our common 
Mulberry^ and the India-rubber ; besides smaller plants, as 
the hop, hemp, nettle, etc. The natural family has however 
been divided, by Lindley and others, with great reason, into 
four or five distinct and well-defined orders. 

The quantity of figs consumed in this country is im- 
mense; nearly 700 tons were imported in 1851. Those 
from Greece are usually in barrels or baskets, very much 
dried, and threaded in strings upon a long rush. The figs 
of Turkey are more carefully packed, in small cylindrical 
boxes called drums, and occasionally in small square boxes. 
A few bay-leaves are usually put upon the top of each box, 
to keep the fruit from the ravages of a grub which is very 
destructive to them. 

A kind of preparation called Jig-caJce is occasionally im- 
ported; it consists of figs and almonds worked up into a 
paste and pressed quite hard into cakes of a round form. 



PRUNES. 



29 



somewhat like small cheeses. It is usually sold about the 
streets^ but is very little esteemed. 

Prunes. Pnmus domestica, variety ^ Juliana. [Dm- 
pacece, Lindley.) 

This fruit is the Julian variety of the common plum^ 
dried either by spreading them on hurdles exposed to the 
sun^ or on the floors of brick ovens ; the former method is 
however generally used, except in unfavourable seasons. 
We receive them in large quantities from France, the im- 
ports in 1850 being nearly 300 tons. They are very much 
used in the manufacturing districts, where they are a fa- 
vourite kind of fruit for pies and puddings ; they are also 
used medicinally, in consequence of possessing slight laxa- 
tive qualities. 

The French Plum, or Table Prune, is a much finer variety 
of plum — Trmms domestica, variety 77 Catharinea, and pro- 
bably other varieties. They are much larger and contain 
more sugar. They are usually packed in very elegant boxes, 
called cartoons. They are carefully dried in the sun, and 
packed one by one, whereas the common prunes are thrown 
and pressed into barrels. They usually fetch a high price, 
and are only used as a table-fruit. About 90 tons were im- 
ported in 1851. 



30 



POPULAU ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



Dates. — The fruit of tlie Date Palm^ Phcenix dactyli- 
fera, (Nat. Ord. FalmacecE,) (Plate IX. fig. 47.) 

This is one of those vegetable products which are of far 
greater importance in the countries where they are produced 
than in our own. The date is not a favourite fruit in Eng- 
land^ although it is diflScult to explain the reason why, for 
it has many excellencies : to many, the flavour is very 
agreeable, and very few fruits possess such highly nutritive 
qualities. Dates come to us from Barbary and Egypt, and 
are usually of the variety termed Tafilat; we however oc- 
casionally receive a few from Egypt of the variety called 
White Dates, which are smaller, being not much larger than 
an acorn, and nearly as smooth. The colour is a dull yel- 
lowish-white ; the former variety is of a dark reddish-brown 
colour, more than twice as large as the white one ; its sur- 
face is wrinkled and covered with a moist saccharine exu- 
dation. 

Dr. James Eichardson, in writing upon the dates of 
Eezzan, says, When every other species of food fails, the 
date-palm yields, with the returning year, its nourishing and 
powerful fruit, and saves the population of the desert from 
perishing of hunger. Nineteen-twentieths of the popu- 
lation of Eezzan live on dates during nine months of the 



DATES. 



31 



year. Many of the animals likewise feed on dates the 
greater part of the year, the oases being bare of herbage.''^ 
Dr. James Eichardson describes, in the letter above quoted"^, 
no less than forty-six varieties of this fruit which he found 
cultivated in the oases of the deserts of Northern Africa. 
The first question of the Bedouin is, What is the price of 
dates at Mecca or Medina 

The date-palm belongs to the Linnsean Order Dioecia, 
i.e, the stamen-flowers and pistil-flowers are on different 
plants, consequently they require the intervention of insects,* 
or some other means, for the conveyance of the pollen from 
the stamens to the pistils : this is usually done by bees, but 
occasionally this source of assistance fails, and the trees 
remain barren. Relative to this fact, Michaux records 
an interesting indication of the careful forethought of the 
Persians, who, being at war at the time, and knowing the 
facilities their enemies had for destroying pistil-bearing 
palms, they saved a quantity of pollen in hermetically sealed 
tubes, with which they fertilized the pistilHferous flowers. 
After the destroyers had passed on, their perseverance was 
rewarded with as plentiful a crop of this essential food as if 
it had been produced in the usual manner. 

* Hooker's J ournal of Botany, vol. ii. 



32 POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 

The date-palm is a magnificent plant^ throwing up its stem 
to the height of fifty feet and upwards. Prom the summit 
of this stem the leaves spread out in the most elegant tuft ; 
they are pinnated, or have a row of pointed leaflets on each 
side of the immense leaf-stalky which is often as much as five 
feet in length. The graceful elegance of the Eastern groves 
of palm-trees cannot be better described than in the exqui- 
site language of the poet Moore — 

Those gronps of lovely date-trees, bending 

Languidly their leaf-crown'd heads, 
Like youthful maids, when sleep descending 

Warns them to their silken beds." 

The flowers are at first enclosed in a floral envelope called 
a spathe, or perianth. They push out from between the 
leaves, and, when fully developed, form large branched 
bunches, upon which the fruit is borne; the fresh fruit, if 
fully ripe, is called ruteb. In this state it will not keep 
long : in order to be able to transport the fruit to distant 
countries, it must be gathered when not quite ripe, and 
dried in the sun. Besides the fruit, the heart of the tuft 
of leaves, usually called the Palm-cabbage, is much esteemed 
as a vegetable ; but the tree dies when this is cut off". Prom 
the wound thus made by the removal of the cabbage, an 



THE POMEGRANATE, 



33 



immense quantity of liquid flows, which speedily ferments, 
and, upon being distilled, yields an inferior variety of 
Arrack. The wood of the date-palm will be described in 
its proper place. 

Whenever the palm is mentioned in Scripture, the date- 
palm is always intended. Its cultivation has, from the ear- 
liest commencement of the historic period, been an object of 
importance in Northern Africa and various parts of Asia. 
Burckhardt, in his Travels in Arabia, speaks of the date- 
palm as forming the chief wealth of the inhabitants. The 
trees are hereditary, and sold as estates ; and the wedding 
portion of a bride is often in date-trees. The quantity of 
dates imported into England is small, seldom exceeding ten 
or twelve tons per annum. 

PoMEGEANATE. — The fruit of Tunica Granatum. (Nat. 
Ord. Myrtacem) (Plate lY. fig. 19.) 

A shrub, forming extensive woods in Persia, and much 
cultivated in the warmer parts of Europe. The fruit is 
about the size of a large poppy-head, and not unlike it in 
shape ; the rind is leathery, or more like a corky bark, but 
when ripe and fresh it is beautifully coloured of a golden 
yellow, with a rosy tinge on one side ; when opened, it con- 
tains a number of carpels, having the appearance of red 



34 



POPULAR ECONOiriC BOTAI^Y. 



currants packed very close and without anj apparent arrange- 
ment ; upon closer examination they are however found to 
be arranged in two tiers^ with pithy partitions running be- 
tween them. 

In the early ages of the world the pomegranate was very 
highly esteemed^ and in hot countries its sub-acid juice is 
perhaps more grateful to the palate than even that of gi'apes. 
It is stated to be a native of Carthage^ but this rests solely 
upon the evidence of Pliny^ who had but very limited means 
of determining such a point. It is now cultivated in Italy, 
Spain, Portugal, and Southern France ; it will even bear the 
^dnters of England, and flowers, but does not fruit with 
us. We annually receive a few chests of pomegranates from * 
Portugal, and sometimes, though rarely, from Barbary. 
The rind is used in tanning the celebrated Morocco leather. 
The flowers are very beautiful, of a rich crimson colour; 
they are dried in Barbary, and are used in dyeing and in 
medicine by the Moorish inhabitants. 

Olives. — The fruit of OleaEurojJCBa. (Xat. Ord. Oleace^e.) 
(Plate IV. fig. 16.) 

This fruit is only brought to Britain in a preserved state^ 
being gathered unripe and pickled in a solution of salt. It 
is used as a dessert fruit, rather for the purpose of renovating 



THE SWEET ORANGE. 



35 



the palate than for its flavour^ which in its pickled state is 
often disliked. The olive is a long oval berry^ very much like 
a common acorn^ both in colour and shape. It consists of a 
one-seeded nut^ enclosed in a dark bluish-green fleshy drupe, 
which, for pickling, is gathered while green. The nut is ex- 
tremely hard, and was originally a two-celled carpel, but one 
seed only being developed, the superfluous cell is absorbed. 
When ripe, the fleshy covering is found to contain oil in great 
abundance. (See Olive Oil.) There are varieties found in 
commerce, the only difference of which probably is climatal ; 
they are the large, or Spanisli, and the small, or Prench. 

The olive is a fine large tree, of slow growth, and attain- 
ing an immense age. It is first mentioned in Genesis viii. 
11 : And the dove came in to him in the evening, and lo, 
in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off/^ Very few 
trees exceed the olive in graceful beauty ; it has elegantly 
coloured leaves, similar in shape and size to those of the 
willow, but softer and more delicate. It will survive our 
coldest winters, but does not perfect its fruit in this country ; 
besides wliich, the tree loses much of its beauty in our cli- 
mate. About 11,000 or 12,000 gallons are annually im- 
ported, some of which are again exported to the colonies 
and other countries. 



36 



POPULAR ECOXOMIC BOTANY. 



The Sweet Orange. Citrus Aurantium, (Nat. Ord. 
Aurmitiacece,) 

This valuable and interesting fruit is comparatively a 
recent introduction to Europe : the Bitter Orange^ Lemon^ 
and Citron have been much longer known. Much doubt 
exists as to the native country of the orange, but China and 
the north of India appear the most probable native habitats. 
Orange-trees have now found their way into every country of 
which the climate is suitable to their culture. Southern Eu- 
rope seems to be particularly adapted to the orange. As might 
naturally be inferred from its adaptability to so great a variety 
of soil and climate, it sports into a vast number of varieties. 
Like the apple, it has been brought to perfection from a state 
even worse than the crab, and passes into new varieties 
whenever great care is bestowed iu raising new plants ; it is 
not however so manageable in the hands of the horticul- 
turist as many other fruits, from the greater tendency which 
seedling plants have to revert to the wild state. 

The orange is now found in China, India, North and 
South Africa, Southern Europe, Turkey, the islands of the 
Mediterranean, South America, and the Azores and West 
Indies. So thoroughly has it become naturalized in Europe, 
that in Italy, Spain, and Portugal it forms a large propor- 



THE SEVILLE OEANGE. 



37 



tion of the vegetation. It seems probable that we are in- 
debted to the Moors for their introduction into Europe. 
Avicenna, a celebrated Moorish physician^ is the first who 
mentions them, and speaks of the oil of oranges. The Moors 
appear to have penetrated further into India than even Alex- 
ander had done, and to have brought the orange from the 
far North. It does not appear to have been known to either 
Greeks or Eomans. 

There are many very distinct varieties of the sweet orange. 
Risso, a French naturalist, in 1818 published a description 
of one hundred and sixty-nine. The most remarkable va- 
rieties we receive are the St. Michael's, the Blood Red, the 
Maltese, and the Majorca, or seedless variety. Oranges 
come to us from the Azores, Lisbon, Malta, and Sicily, in 
boxes and chests; the imports in 1851 were 300,500 pack- 
ages, weighing 35,000 tons. {Foolers Statistics,) 

The Bitter or Seville Orange. — Citrus vulgaris,— 
This species was known in Europe long before the preceding 
6ne. The Moors of Spain cultivated the bitter orange very 
extensively, probably chiefly for medicinal purposes ; all 
the old plantations which have remained of the Moors' 
planting are of the bitter kind. They are chiefly used in 
making marmalade, and the rind is valued for its medicinal 



38 



POPULAH ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



qualities as a tonic. The number imported is not great, 
being from 600 to 800 chests per annum. 

The Shaddock. — Citrus decumana. — This species of 
orange was named after Captain Shaddock, who introduced 
it from China — where it is a native — to the West Indies. 
It is not a very useful fruit, but from its great size (being 
the largest of its tribe) and handsome light yellow colour 
it is highly ornamental. A few hundreds are annually im- 
ported from the West Indies, 

Forbidden Fruit. — Oitms joaradisi, — This fruit, like 
the preceding, which it strongly resembles, is brought to 
this country more as an ornamental addition to the dessert 
than for any other purpose. The pulp of this fruit is 
sweetish, and not badly flavoured, and the rind is not so 
intensely bitter as that of the Shaddock. The importation 
is small and irregular. 

Besides these varieties of the orange, two or three others 
occasionally find their way to this country from the Brazils ; 
tbey are 

1 . The Navel Orange, or Larangeim seleta, — Its English 
name is derived from a protuberance at the top of the fruit. 

2. The Common Brazilian Orange — Lamngeira da China 
— thought to be the common China orange. 



THE LEMON. 



39 



3. The Smaller Tangerine, or Larangeira Tangerina pe- 
quena, — An elegant little orange, not larger than a walnut ; 
the pulp is very agreeable and the rind highly perfumed. 

4. The Greater Tangerine, or Larangeira Tangerina 
grande, — This only differs from the smaller Tangerine by 
being much larger. 

The Lemon. Citrus Limonnm. (Nat. Ord. Aurantiacedi.) 

Several varieties of the common lemon are in use in this 
country; they usually come in boxes, chiefly from Sicily. 
The quantity annually received from Messina and Palermo is 
about 12,000 chests; 3,000 chests are also brought from 
Malaga and Lisbon, and other places. The most esteemed 
varieties are — 1. The Wax Lemon [C, Limonum ceriescum, 
Eisso), which is most commonly used; 2. The Imperial 
Lemon {C. Limonum imperiale^ Risso) ; and 3. The Gaeta 
Lemon [C, Limonum Gaietamm, Eisso). 

The Lemon is a native of the Himalayan range in India, 
and is supposed to have been introduced into Europe at the 
time of the Crusades. It is highly and deservedly esteemed 
for its acid juice, which is peculiarly grateful and cooling, 
besides being the most powerful anti-scorbutic medicine 
with which we are acquainted ; indeed, since lime and lemon 
juice have been ordered by law to be carried by every vessel 



40 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



sailing to foreign countries^ that dreadful disease^ the scurvy, 
has hardly been known in our Navy and Mercantile Marine. 
The acidity of the juice in the lemon, and all others of its 
genns, depends entirely upon the presence of a peculiar acid 
called citric, which is easily separated by chemical means. 
The Lime. Citrus Limetta, 

Risso describes seven varieties of the Lime. They are 
rarely brought to England, and then only in a preserved 
state, usually in syrup, forming a most delicious addition 
to our dessert fruits. The variety usually sent thus is 
the Small-fruited Sweet Lime [C, Limetta fructu jpumilo, 
Eisso) . It is about one-third the size of a common lemon, 
and of a yellowish-green colour when ripe ; but in order to 
preserve the delightful aroma of the rind, it is preserved 
green, which is the only state in which we see it in this 
country. The preserved lime comes in very small kegs, of 
about seven pounds weight, chiefly as presents from Brazil. 
The Greeks have a method of removing the pulp, and after- 
wards preserving the rind dry with a thin coating of sugar, 
in which state we occasionally see them. Although, like all 
its congeners, it is a native of Asia, it has found its way all 
over the world, and is cultivated generally where the climate 
is suitable. 



THE CITEON. 



41 



The Citeon. Citrus medica. 

Like the preceding, this fine fruit only reaches us in a 
preserved state, and then usually the rind only. Citron 
rind either comes candied with sugar, or else pickled in salt 
and water, for the purpose of being candied here ; its use 
in flavouring confectionery is well known. The citron is the 
largest of the oval-shaped fruits of the genus CitruSy as the 
Shaddock is of the round ones. Apparently it was the first 
known of its genus. Carpenter, in his ' Scripture Natural 
History,^ supposes it is alluded to in the Old Testament 
whenever the word ap^le is used, and it is thought to be the 
fjur/Xov fiTjSiKov of Theophrastus ; its specific name medica 
is supposed to be derived from Media, whence it is said to 
have originated ; and not, as might be supposed, from any 
medicinal virtues. We receive about 70 tons annually of 
the preserved rind from Madeira. 

Besides the valuable fruits yielded by the genus Citrus^ it 
also furnishes us with large quantities of citric acid, of great 
chemical importance, and the essential oils of orange and 
lemon peels; of orange flowers {Oleum Neroli) of citron- 
peel (Oleum Cetronella) ) of the Bergamot Orange [Oleum 
Bergamotm) ; and oil of the orange leaves, usually called 
Essence de petit grain, — all of great value in perfumery. 



42 



POPULAE ECONOraC BOTANY. 



The Tamarind. Tamarindus Indica, (Nat. Ord. Legu- 
minosce,) (Plate TV. fig. 15.) 

Originally a native of India^ this usefnl fruit has been in- 
troduced to the West Indies and South America, where it is 
extensively cultivated. In tropical countries its agreeable 
sub -acid pulp is highly esteemed for its cooling qualities ; 
in this country, though now often used as a preserve, it is 
more generally employed to form medicinal cooling drinks. 

We always receive the tamarind preserved, either with or 
without sugar, and with its outer covering removed. When 
perfect, the pulp is enclosed in a dry brittle brown pod, 
from three to four inches in length; when removed, the 
thick pulp is held, together with the hard brown seeds, by a 
number of thick root-like fibres, which penetrate it in all 
directions ; the seeds themselves are enclosed in thin tough 
membranes [endocarjps) , The East Indian tamarinds are 
usually darker, and contain more pulp, than those from the 
West Indies; the former are usually preserved without 
sugar, but those from the West Indies are more agreeable, 
being preserved generally in a thick syrup. We are in- 
debted for this fruit to the Arabians, who gave the name 
from tamar, signifying fruit, and Indus, its native country. 
Immense quantities arrive from the East and West Indies, 




15. Tamarmi Plant. 16 . Olive Plaiut . 17. Oua,va Plant. 
18. Great AnLericaiL CxaiibeTry 19. PomegL'a.nate . 



THE GUAVA. THE MANGO. 



43 



Africa^ and the Brazils^ as presents^ besides the imports for 
commercial purposes^ so that it is difficult to ascertain the 
exact quantity imported^ but it cannot be much less than 
100 tons annually. 

The GuAVA. Psidmm pyrifemm, (^di, Oidi, M7/rtacece,) 
(Plate IV. fig. 17.) 

This elegant tree is a native of Tropical America and the 
Caribbee Islands^ where its native name is Gnayaha, of which 
its English designation is a corruption. The fruit is some- 
what of a pear-shape^ and the external rind has the appear- 
ance of a ripe apple. Like most other tropical fruits^ the 
guava is very perishable^ so that we can only have it in a 
preserved state ; considerable quantities of guava jeUy are 
annually brought from the West Indies and South America. 

The Mango. Mangifera Indica. (Nat. Ord. Anacar- 
cliace^E,) 

Although the Mango is esteemed one of the finest of tro- 
pical fruits^ and is in India made into jelKes and conserves^ 
it only reaches Europe unripe and pickled. In this state it is 
about the size and shape of a lemon ; and from the quantity 
of mustard usually employed in pickling it; and its own na- 
tural colour,, it very much resembles that fruit. Only very 
small quantities are imported. 



44 



POPULAE ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



The Litchi. Ne]phelium Litchi, or Euphoria Litcld, 
(Nat. Ord. SapifidacecE.) (Plate Y. fig. 20.) 

This very beautiful addition to our table-fruits is a very 
recent introduction ; the rapid passages lately made to and 
from China and the East Indies^ its native countries, having 
alone made it possible. The berries are enclosed in a beau- 
tifully marked, thin, reddish-brown shell, round, and about 
the size of a small walnut. Before being packed, they are 
dried artificially, so that the rich pulp with which they are 
filled becomes dried and shrivelled up round the seed ; even 
then however the flavour is exceedingly rich and delicate. 
Few have yet been imported ; they have however been sold 
in the Liverpool fruit-market as low as sixpence a dozen. 

Prickly Pear. O^imtia vulgaris, (Nat. Ord. Cactacea.) 
(Plate V. fig. 21.) 

Lately this fruit has found its way into our markets, pro- 
bably from the south of Europe, where it is now abundantly 
cultivated, and where it appears to thrive as well as in its 
native country — the southern parts of North America. It 
is a very elegant oval fruit, as large, or rather larger than a 
hen^s egg, of a golden-yellow colour, tinted on one side 
with red or purple, and marked on various parts of its sur- 
face with scars, upon which tufts of spines were placed, but 



THE BANAJ^A. 



45 



which have been rubbed off. As a fruity it is not much liked 
in this country^ and probablj^ will not be worth importing 
after the popular curiosity is satisfied. They have been sold 
in the Liverpool fruit-market at twopence each. 

The Banana^ Mttsa sapientum, and the Plantain, Musa 
puradisiaca, (Nat. Ord. Musacece,) 

Tropical fruits, produced by magnificent palm-like trees, 
the stems of which grow often more than twenty feet in 
height, bearing on their summits clusters consisting of eight 
or ten large leaves, which are from three to five or even six 
feet in length, and rounded at each end; they are about 
eighteen inches in width throughout their whole length, 
and are of a beautiful emerald- green colour. These leaves, 
the noblest borne by any known plant, are placed at the end 
of long stout petioles, the bases of which form the stem ; the 
dried leaves form thatch for the Indian cottages, and serve 
the natives for many other economic purposes. 

The fruit of both species is extensively used as food by 
the natives of the tropics, throughout which these trees are 
widely distributed. They are natives of the Cape of Good 
Hope, the South African Islands, and the islands of the 
Indian Archipelago. The flower-spike arises from the centre 
of the tuft of leaves ; it consists of an immense number of 



46 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



florets^ each of which is hidden at first beneath its own pe- 
rianth^ the whole together strongly resembling the heart of 
some animal suspended^ both in colour and shape; as the 
florets of the base become perfect^ the fruit swells out^ and 
the other florets are pushed forward^ until the stalk on which 
they are borne often reaches the length of three feet^ and 
bears an enormous number of fruity sometimes as many as 
150 to 170 or 180^ weighing from sixty to seventy pounds. 

Each fruit is about six inches long; it is straight^ and 
about an inch in diameter^ rather shorter and thicker in the 
banana than in the plantain. When ripe^ the inner portion 
consists of a rich sweet pulp, of the colour and consistence 
of marrow, with the flavour of a fine pear. There are 

^'Plantains, the golden and the green." 

Those which are brought to us are gathered unripe, but, 
upon being kept long enough, acquire a rich golden-yellow 
colour. It has been stated that they do not produce good 
fruit under hothouse cultivation in this country ; this how- 
ever is not quite true : Henry Winch, Esq., of Seacombe, in 
Cheshire, near Liverpool, some time since, had a plantain- 
house in which the fruit was ripened in great perfection. 
The imported ones are rarely worth eating, and are so Kttle 



THE PINE APPLE. 



47 



esteemed that we have purchased them for twopence each 
in the streets of London. 

The importance of the plantain to the inhabitants of tro- 
pical countries can hardly be appreciated by Europeans ; but 
so completely does it form the food of some races, that they 
might almost be characterized as fructivorous. It admits 
of being dried or eaten fresh, and in either state is highly 
nutritious and agreeable. 

The Pine Apple. Ananassa sativa. (Nat. Ord. Bro- 
meliacem,) 

The importation of pine-apples from the Bahamas has 
now become an extensive trade; more than 200,000 were 
imported in 1851. The pine-apple originally was a native 
of the tropical islands of America, but, owing to its extra- 
ordinary facility for transportation, and its powers of natu- 
ralizing itself, it is now thoroughly established in Africa and 
the East Indies; and its culture in this country, though 
very costly, is remarkably successful, the fruit produced 
being far superior to that grown in other and more congenial 
climates. In a state of nature the pine-apple is not eatable, 
being so extremely acid as to excoriate the lips and gums. 
Eor export to Europe it is gathered before it is quite ripe, 
and usually reaches England in pretty good condition. The 



48 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTAJs'Y. 



English-grown pine-apple usually is from ten to twelve shil- 
lings per pound^ while the imported ones rarely exceed half- 
a-crown for the whole fruit. 

The pine-apple is that variety of fructification called a so- 
rosis : it consists of a number of bracts which have swollen 
until they have enclosed the seeds in their rich juicy pulp. 

The Water Melon. Cucumis (or Cucurhita) CitruUus, 
variety Jace, (Nat. Ord. Cucurhitacece,) 

A small quantity of this fruit reaches the English market 
annually. It is a large oval melon^ with dark green rind ; 
the flesh is white^ of a delicate sweet flavour^ but very wa- 
tery and insipid if not quite ripe. We annually receive 
them from Malaga and Portugal^ in a sort of open-worked 
rush basket^ each containing but two or three melons ; they 
are in these baskets suspended to the ceiling of the ship^s 
cabin^ and thus avoid bruising and preserve their freshness. 
They are not usually considered unwholesome. 

The Cranberry. Oxycoccos macrocarpus. (Nat. Ord. 
Facciniace^e.) (Plate lY. fig. 18.) 

Probably the kegs of cranberries we receive from North 
America and Newfoundland contain a mixture of the species 
above named^ with the 0. palustris and 0. erythrocarjpus. 
They are preserved in spring-water, and packed in small 



THE CAEOB. 



49 



kegs, and are much used in making tarts, for which they are 
well adapted. The American cranberries are of a slightly 
oval shape and a bright red colour ; they somewhat resemble 
red currants, but are more than twice as large, and have no 
remains of the calyx at the top of the berry. About 4000 
gallons are annually consumed in England. 

The Caeob, Locust, or St. John^s Bread, — the Alga- 
roba of the Spaniards and Moorish nations, and the Johan- 
nisbrod of the Germans, — is the ripe legume of Ceratonia 
Siliqua, (Nat. Ord. Legwninosce,) 

It is a long flat pod, often six or eight inches long, and 
nearly an inch in breadth, but not exceeding a quarter of an 
inch in thickness ; the produce of a small, but handsome 
tree, growing very generally and plentifully in the south of 
Europe, parts of Germany, France, and the Northern States 
of Africa. The seeds, which are flat, hard, reddish-brown^ 
and about the size of a lentil, are, like those of the tama- 
rind, enveloped in a pulp. The pulp of the carob is however 
free from fibres, and is of a very sweet, rather sickly, taste. 
In times of scarcity it serves as food, and is believed to be 
the Wild Locust upon which St. John fed. It rarely comes 
to England, and then only as food for horses, which is its 
principal use elsewhere. 

E 



50 



CHAPTER III. 

NUTS. 

The vegetable products which are to be described under 
this chapter are many of them of considerable interest^ both 
from their importance in a commercial point of view^ and 
also from their botanical associations. The ease with which 
nuts of all kinds can be preserved and transported from 
place to place, and the agreeable flavour of such as are 
edible, render them valuable, either as foo'd or as additions 
to our dessert fruits. Many of them are so familiar as to 
need scarcely any description, nevertheless the statistics of 
the commonest sorts are very little known to 'the public. 
Who would imagine, upon seeing the little iialfpenny piles 
of those three-cornered nuts called Brazil nuts, lying upon 
the apple-stalls in the streets, that not less than 50,000 



THE BRAZIL NUT. 



51 



bushels of that nut are annually brought to this country, 
chiefly from the district of Para in the Brazils ; and that 
they there furnish occupation to a large number of the male 
inhabitants, who are consequently styled Castanheiros, or 
Castanha (the Brazilian name) gatherers ? 

As we have mentioned the Brazil nut, v/e will give its 
history first. 

The Brazil, Juvia, Castanha, or Para Nut, is the fruit 
of a very fine tree, Bertlioletia excelsa, (Nat. Ord. Lecytlii- 
dacece, Lindley.) (Plate VI. fig. 27.) 

It often reaches the height of 120 feet, attaining fre- 
quently a diameter of four feet at its base, and often rising 
a hundred feet before putting forth a branch. The Para 
forests contain this and an allied tree in great abundance, 
both yielding sweet nuts in profusion. The nuts are not 
borne singly, but are packed with most remarkable exact- 
ness, to the number of from twelve to twenty, in a hard 
ligneous capsule, which is nearly round, but inclined to the 
pear-shape; so hard and so heavy is this great pod, that 
when ripe, it is dangerous to pass under the trees, for even 
an Indian^s head is not sufiiciently hard to withstand the 
fatal blow of the Castanha Cabomba, as the Brazilians call 
them. 



52 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



Many amusing tales are told of the monkeys^ which are 
so fond of this fruit that they will patiently hammer the 
capsule for hours with a stone^ in order to obtain the en- 
closed nuts. They watch the fall of the nuts from the trees 
with great eagerness ; and should one of the capsules bursty 
it is the signal for an amusing scramble. Helter-skelter 
rush the quadrumanous sentinels of a hundred lofty branches^ 
swinging themselves from bough to bough with their pre- 
hensile tails until they close upon the precious juvias^ for 
which they fight with a determination which furnishes another 
point in their resemblance to the human race. The In- 
dians are said to make use of the imitative propensities of 
the monkey in order to obtain the castanha crop : they pelt 
stones and other missiles at the monkeys^ who^ in return, 
gather the capsules of the Bertholetia and hurl them at their 
human opponents. By this means large quantities of these 
nuts are collected and transferred to the boats. The prin- 
cipal locality for the Para nuts is on the river Aripecuru, 
a branch of the Amazon ; the time for collecting them is 
winter, when troops of Indian castanheiros ascend the river 
to obtain the harvest of nuts, upon which they depend for 
the yearns subsistence. They frequently constitute the whole 
cargo of vessels of considerable burden, and the quantity 



THE SAPUCAIA NUT. 



53 



we receive from Brazil is^ as before stated^ not less than 
50,000 bushels. The Para nnt is one of the most whole- 
some of all the hard-shelled fruits, and contains a fine sweet 
oil, which is often expressed and used by watchmakers, and 
artists in oil-colours. 

Closely allied to the Para nut, is 

The Sapucaia Nut. LecytJiis ollaria, or Pot-plant. 
(Nat. Ord. LecjjtUdacecE) (Plate VI. fig. 26.) 

This curious nut is very superior to the last ; its flavour is 
finer, and it is more digestible; but unfortunately these 
good qualities are as well known to the monkeys, wliich 
abound in the Brazilian forests^ as to ourselves ; the conse- 
quence is, that instead of pelting the castanheiros with them, 
they eat them^ and we get but very few. The trees grow in 
the same localities as the Bertholetias, but the capsule is 
rather different : instead of being pyriform, or pear-shaped, 
it is urn- shaped, — hence its name of Pot-plant, — opening 
by a sort of lid, which falls off, leaving a large opening suflB- 
cient for the nuts to fall out. So eager are the monkeys to 
obtain the nuts, that they will thrust their hand into this 
opening, which they do with difficulty, and grasp the nuts ; 
but the orifice which admitted the empty hand will not 
allow the egress of a full one, and the animal will torment 



54 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



itself a long time rather than relinquish its hold. The In- 
dians avail themselves of this cupidity to entrap the mon- 
keys. They open the lids of several capsules^ and then throw 
them under the trees : the greedy monkey will not be sa- 
tisfied with one pod^ but will thrust its hands into two_, and 
will not relinquish its hold; the encumbrance renders its 
capture easy^ and has led to a saying amongst the Brazilians 
equivalent to our ^^Old birds are not caught with chaff it 
is^ He is too old a monkey to be caught by a cabomba/^ 
the capsule being called by them a cabomha. 

The Sapucaia nut is long^ rather curiously but slightly 
curved in the S form^ and the surface is deeply wrinkled 
longitudinally; the shell is softer than that of most nuts. 
It is to be regretted that this delicious fruit is not more 
generally known. The nuts come in small parcels, and are 
sold cheaply in consequence of the ignorance which prevails 
respecting their good qualities. 

SuRAHWA, SouARi, or SuwAEEOW NuT. CaryocaT Imty- 
Tosum, (Nat. Ord. Ehizohalace^e.) (Plate YI. fig. 28.) 

This large and singular-looking nut is the produce of a 
gigantic tree found in Demarara, whence we receive the fruit. 
The Surahwa nut is somewhat kidney-shaped, about half 
the size of an egg ; it grows in bunches, and where the nuts 



THE CASHEW NUT. 55 

are in contact they bear the marks of pressure^ being 
pinched in to an edge on this side, but rounded off on the 
outer side ; the colour is a fine reddish-brown, and they are 
covered over with close-set rounded tubercles. The kernel 
is perhaps the most agreeable of all the nut kind ; it is as 
bland and sweet as an almond, with a softer texture, and a 
milky flavour. Although they keep well, very few are im- 
ported into England, probably from the great difiiculty in 
gathering them, in consequence of the magnitude of the trees 
producing them. The timber is highly valued for ship- 
building, and the oil expressed from the nuts is much es- 
teemed in Demarara; it equals that of the olive in sweet- 
ness. It is the Vehea tuberculosa of Aublet. 

The Cashew Nut. Anaeardium occideniale, (Nat. 
Ord. AnacardiacecB,) (Plate YI. fig. 29.) 

The Cashew is a small kidney-shaped nut, of an ash-grey 
colour, frequently seen in the shops of dealers in foreign 
dried fruits, by whom however very few are sold. The shell 
of the nut consists of three distinct parts; the outermost 
[epicarp) and innermost [endocarp) are hard and dry, the 
intervening one {mesocarjo) consists chiefly of a clammy 
viscid juice, of such an exceedingly acrid nature, that per- 
sons attempting to crack the nut in the mouth are sure to 



56 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



suffer severe excoriation of the lips and tongue. Like many 
other noxious vegetable secretions however^ heat destroys the 
acridity of the Cashew-nut husk ; it is therefore roasted be- 
fore being eaten^ and in that state is a great delicacy. The 
tree producing this nut is of considerable size^ with very 
small flowers ; its most remarkable feature is^ that the disc 
of the flower to which the nut is attached continues to grow 
after the flower has fallen^ until it is of considerable size, 
giving the appearance of a kidney-shaped nut growing out 
of a large-sized fruit ; this enlarged fruit-like disc is used 
as a fruit, and its juice is fermented into a kind of wine in 
the West Indies. 

The Marking Nut. Semecarpus Anacardmm, 
This belongs to the same Natural Order as the preceding, 
and is closely allied to it ; it is however very different in 
shape and colour, being somewhat like a tamarind-stone, 
but rather longer, with a whitish scar at the base^ marking 
its place of attachment to the receptacle. It has the same 
marked division of the pericarjo into three parts ; the inter- 
mediate one is fluid, of a remarkably fine black colour, and 
is used extensively as a black varnish, for which purpose it 
is principally imported, although when roasted the nuts are 
as sweet as those of the cashew, but too smaU to repay the 



PISTACHIO NUT. SWEET ALMOND. 



57 



trouble ; they are however occasionally eaten. It is a native 
of the East Indies^ where its black varnish is used for mark- 
ing linen, as vv^ell as varnishing lacquer-work, — hence its 
nanie of Marking Nat. 

The Pistachio Nut. Pistacia LentiscuSy also belonging 
to the Anacardiace(E, (Plate V. fig. 25.) 

Is much cultivated in the Greek islands, especially Ohio 
(where its gum is also gathered), and many parts of Southern 
Europe. The nut is of a reddish-green colour, about an 
inch long, and not unlike a radish-pod in shape ; the kernel 
is of a bright green colour and very agreeable flavour ; the 
nut splits into two valves. The Turks and the Greeks both 
use this fruit in great abundance, hence the cause of its 
reaching us only in small quantities. Formerly it was much 
used in this country as a substitute for almonds. 

The Sweet Almond. Awygdalus communis, var. /3 dulcis, 
(Nat. Ord. Brnpacece, De Candolle.) (Plate VI. fig. 30.) 

The sweet almond is too well known to need a descrip- 
tion; there are however several very distinct varieties. 
1. The Jordan Almonds, which, notwithstanding their Orien- 
tal name, all come from Malaga ; they are the finest of all. 
Jordan almonds are longer in proportion than either of the 
following varieties, and their skin is clear and free from 



58 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



brown dust; they are not often imported in the shell. 2. 
The Yalentia Almonds^ which we receive from Spain ; they 
are not quite so long as the Jordan variety, but are broader, 
and the skin is covered with a fine dust of the same colour 
as itself; sometimes imported in the shell. 3. The Barbary 
and Italian Almonds, which appear to be the same variety ; 
they are shorter, rounder, and smaller than either of the 
other sorts ; they are most frequently imported in the shell. 

The almond is very closely allied to the peach, which is 
in fact a species of Amygdalus {A, _persica), and, like it, con- 
sists of a fleshy fruit, containing a seed enclosed in a hard 
shell or putamen {endocarp). In the almond this fruit is 
not so succulent as in the peach, and does not adhere to the 
shell ; when ripe it becomes hard, splits, or dehisces, so that 
the nut drops out. The almond-tree grows to about the 
same size as the common plum, and in this climate its flowers 
are produced very early in the spring, before any leaves ap- 
pear ; this habit furnished the poet Moore with the following 
poetical simile : — 

'^The hope, in dreams of a happier hour, 
That alights on misery's brow, 
Springs out of the silvery almond-flower. 
That blooms on a leafless bough." 



THE BITTEE ALMOND. 



59 



The first mention made of almonds is in the following 
verse of Scripture : And their father Israel said unto them^ 
If it must be so now^ do this ; take of the best fruits of 
the laud in your vessels^ and carry down the man a present, 
a little balm, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts, 
and almonds, Genesis xliii. 11. They are most probably 
natives of Syria and the northern parts of Africa, w^hence 
their cultivation spread over most parts of Asia, and into 
Greece. It was late before the Romans became acquainted 
with this fruit, which they at first called Greek nuts.^^ They 
are merely used as a dessert fruit and in confectionery. Poole, 
in his ^ Statistics of British Commerce,^ shows that the an- 
nual consumption of this nut in Great Britain averages 
^00 tons, the value of which in round numbers is £48,000 
sterling. A large quantity of oil may be expressed from the 
seed, but the value of the sweet almond as a fruit is too 
great, and the bitter variety is consequently preferred for 
expression . 

The Bitter Almond. Amygclalus comrnvmis, variety a, 
amara. — This variety is received chiefly from Barbary, where 
it forms a staple article of commerce. Its principal use is 
for the expression of the fixed, and distillation of the essen- 
tial oil j it is however used in confectionery, for imparting 



60 



POPULAE ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



its agreeable flavour. The bitter almond is much smaller, 
rounder, and thicker in proportion than either of the sweet 
kinds ; its essential oil is a dangerous poison, consequently 
the fruit is not a safe one to eat in any quantity ; its bitter 
flavour will however prevent most persons from eating it. 
The imports are about 300 tons per annum. 

The Hazel Nut. Corylus Avellana, (Nat. Ord. Co- 
TT/lacecB.) 

This is the most familiar of all the edible nuts, and is 
certainly one of the most ancient in its use, being also men- 
tioned in^the same verse, wdth the almond, above quoted 
from Genesis. The nut is found growing wild in all the 
forests of the temperate parts of Europe ; it is also abun- 
dant in many parts of Asia. There are the filberts of 
Jerusalem, 

" And sweet nuts 
From the far groves of Samarcand." 

The Jerusalem Eilbert, one of the Asiatic varieties, is oc- 
casionally imported in small quantities ; it has the shape of 
tiie common filbert, but is rather flatter ; the kernel is dry, 
and by no means equal to the generality of nuts. 

Another Asiatic nut, the Red Smyrna [Corylus Colnma), 
is remarkable for the thinness of its shell ; it is much used 



THE HAZEL NUT. 



61 



for expressing oil ; its edible qualities are not equal to the 
European varieties; large quantities are however occasionally 
brought. From Spain we receive two varieties of the com- 
mon hazel nut : one^ called the Black Spanish, is the fresh 
fruit ; the other, called the Barcelona, is probably the same 
variety of nut, but is always hiln-dned before exportation. 
The Gilbert (a corruption of full-heard) and the Cob-nut, 
two improved varieties of the common nut, are occasionally 
brought from other countries, but they are usually cultivated 
in England in sufRcient quantities to supply the demand. 

The hazel nut belongs to the Linnsean Class and Order 
Monoecia Poli/andria, that is, the stamens and pistils are in 
different flowers, but on the same plant. Like most others 
of the Natural Order CorylacecB, it produces the stamen 
flowers in the form of catkins, which make their appearance 
in autumn, and keep on growing until Eebruary, when the 
pistil flowers are first seen ; these are not so conspicuous as 
the male catkins ; they consist merely of a bud, similar to 
the leaf- buds, with the pistils projecting in the form of a 
small crimson feathery tuft. It requires a close inspection 
to find the pistil flowers, but their beauty will well repay the 
trouble. In Kent, where cob-nuts and filberts are very 
much cultivated, the fertility of the pistil flowers is ensured 



62 



POPULAE ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



by drawing a bunch of the catkins, with ripe pollen, over 
them. 

The following are the varieties of the common hazel — 



British 



Corylus Avellana alba 
rubra 
grandis 



Spanish < 



White Filbert. 
Eed Filbert. 
Great Cob. 
Clustered Cob. 
Frizzled Cob. 
Barcelona. 
Yariegated. 
Ovate-fruited. 
Dwarf. 



glomerata 
crispa 

Barcelonensis 
variegata 
ovata 
pumila 

The vast quantities imported into this country are almost 
incredible, especially as the consumption is chiefly amongst 
children; in 1850 the imports exceeded 140,000 bushels, 
value £90,000. A small portion only of this enormous 
quantity is consumed in the manufacture of nut oil, which 
is esteemed by watchmakers, and also by artists in oil- 
colours. 

The Walnut. Jiuglans regia, (Nat. Ord. Juglandacece.) 

The Natural Order to which the Walnut belongs is 
closely allied to that of the hazel nut. The fine tree which 
produces it is pretty well known ; it grows to a large size. 



THE WALNUT. 



63 



and has large oblong-ovate leaves^ of a bright green colour 
and very agreeable odour ; they are sometimes used in dye- 
ing. Walnut-trees are pretty widely dijffused^ not only over 
Europe^ but also in Asia. In Cashmere they are cultivated 
to an enormous extent for the valuable oil they yields which 
surpasses even linseed in its drying qualities ; it is said that 
in that country 12^000 ass-loads of this nut are annually 
taken to the oil-mills. 

There are few nuts of more agreeable flavour than the 
walnut^ consequently it is a great favourite at the dessert 
table ; but very few are imported^ in consequence of their 
ripening well in this country^ and they will not bear a long 
voyage without being kiln-dried^ a process which certainly 
spoils them ; they are however grown in most parts of Eng- 
land as timber-trees, and it is to be regretted that they are 
not much more cultivated^ as they are very valuable^ if it 
were only on account of their very ornamental timber. The 
Germans are aware of the value of the walnut-tree^ and 
cultivate it assiduously. We receive about 30^000 bushels, 
the principal portion of which is imported into London 
from Germany; a few also come from France and Italy. 
Erom America we receive the Hickory and Peccan nuts, 
which also belong to the walnut tribe [JuglandacecB). 



64 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



The Hickory Nut. Carya alba. (Plate Y. fig. 24.) 

The produce of one of the finest forest-trees of North 
America. The nut is smaller than a walnut : the shell very 
smooth and light-coloured or whitish ; it is marked longitu- 
dinally with three or four ridges or sharp angular keels ; it is 
extremely hard ; the kernel closely resembles the walnut in 
appearance. The wood of the tree is much valued for its 
toughness, lightness, and elasticity. The nuts are imported 
only in very small parcels. 

The Peccan Nut. Carya oliv^eformis, (Plate Y. fig. 23.) 

This, as its name implies, is an olive-shaped nut ; it is 
also about the size of an olive, but longer and narrower; 
its colour is a light reddish-brown, and the shell is not so 
hard as that of the hickory nut ; the kernel is very similar 
in flavour to the walnut and hickory ; they are not imported 
in large quantities. One or two other species of the walnut 
tribe are occasionally imported, such as the Butter Nut 
[Juglans cinerea) from Canada — a true walnut, — and the 
Hog Nut [Carya porcina) ; they are however of very rare 
occurrence. 

The Chestnut. Castanea vesca, (Nat. Ord. Cory lace ce.) 
This well-known fruit, though a native of Britain and 
other temperate parts of Europe, does not bring its fruit to 



THE GROUND NUT. 



65 



any very great perfection in this country^ hence we import 
nearly all the chestnuts from Spain^ whence they are usually 
called Spanish chestnuts. In that country they come to the 
greatest perfection^, and are produced in such profusion as to 
constitute a staple article of food to the agricultural classes. 
Although not particularly nutritious^ they are^ especially 
when roasted^ much more easy of digestion than most of the 
edible nuts; there is however one danger to children in 
eating them^ and that is from imperfect mastication, with- 
out which they are difficult of digestion, and are apt to 
create serious and even fatal stoppages of the bowels. 
Several such cases are on record, but it has always been with 
children ; and jpost mortem examinations in most cases have 
shown the duodenum, or second stomach, wedged up with 
little blocks of chestnut. The quantity of chestnuts im- 
ported amounts to upwards of 50,000 bushels annually. 

A very small but remarkably sweet chestnut is now occa- 
sionally imported from the United States of America j it is 
the produce of a distinct species, called Castanea Americana. 

The Geound Nut. Arachis JiT/pogcea, (Nat. Ord. Le- 
gummosce.) (Plate YI. fig. 31.) 

This curious nut is the produce of a plant which is indi- 
genous to, and extensively cultivated on, the western coast 



66 



POPULAE ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



of Africa^ where it constitutes a large proportion of the 
food of the negro inhabitants ; the native name is Mun- 
diiU. It is an annual plants of a trailing habit^ with yellow 
pea-shaped flowers^ produced from the axils of the leaves 
in bunches of five or seven^ close to or even under the 
ground ; if below the surface^ they are fertile^ and produce 
peculiar roundish-oblong pods^ having usually two^ but 
sometimes four^ red-coloured seeds^ which are about the size 
of field-peas^ and have very much their flavour. They are 
now naturalized in South and North America ; indeed^ some 
botanists are of opinion they are natives of South America^ 
but there is little doubt of their African origin^ and that the 
slaves introduced them to the New World. They are culti- 
vated to a very great extent in all parts of the North and 
South American States and in the West Indian Islands ; 
they are also cultivated in the East Indies and Cochin China^ 
but in these places chiefly for the fine limpid oil which the 
seeds yield by expression. 

The most curious circumstance connected with this plant 
is the subterranean habit of its flowers and seeds ; the pod 
is pushed into the soil, and there ripened. This pecuharity 
is found in another closely- allied genus called Voandzeia, 
which produces very similar seeds^ known in Surinam under 



THE COCOA NUT. 



67 



the native name Gohie, The seeds of both these plants are 
boiled by the negroes and eaten as peas. The ground-nut 
is used in various ways in North and South America ; it is 
however most generally roasted. In South Carolina it is 
roasted, and used as chocolate ; in Paris it is cultivated as a 
vegetable, and although requiring the assistance of a hotbed 
in raising, it nevertheless is by no means uncommon. Its 
curious habit of burying its pods causes it to be occasionally 
cultivated in our hothouses as a curiosity. They are now 
sold by most dry-fruiterers, but the bulk of those imported 
find their way to the oil-mills. The supply is irregular, — 
sometimes several hundred quarters in the year, and at other 
times none at all. The pod seems made of a material not 
unlike that of reeds, is very irregular in shape, and covered 
with small depressions between longitudinal veins. It is 
never likely to be much used as an edible fruit in this 
country, being in no respect superior to the common grey 
pea of our fields. 

The Cocoa or Cokeu Ntjt. Cocos nucifera, (Nat. Ord. 
Palmace(je.) (Plate IX. fig. 44.) 

This familiar nut is generally known in commerce by the 
name Cocoa-nut; it is the fruit of a fine species of Palm. 
To the inhabitants of the tropics the cocoa-nut is invaluable ; 



68 



POPULAE ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



it furnishes them with a sweet wholesome food^ a refreshing 
drink^ a material for cordage, and various domestic uten- 
sils, besides a valuable oil, which is used for many economic 
purposes. The nuts are enclosed in an outer husk, which 
has three flat sides, terminating at the top in a blunt point, 
consequently a transverse section of the entire nut would be 
triangular ; this outer husk is composed of a large mass of 
very strong fibres, which form a compact shell externally, 
but are very loose inside. This product will be further 
mentioned in the chapter on vegetable fibres. "Within is 
the nut, enclosed in a very hard oval shell, about a quarter 
of an inch in thickness ; this is used in many w' ays by the 
natives of warm countries in making various domestic uten- 
sils. The peculiar triangular form of the cocoa-nut has been 
pointed out as a special provision for its dissemination; 
thus, growing as it does frequently near the shores of the 
sea and rivers, its large seeds drop in the water, and their 
shape particularly adapts them for sailing : one edge being 
downwards forms the keel, while the upper surface being 
flat is acted upon by the wind, and propelled by it along the 
surface, until it reaches some coral-reef, atoll, or other shore, 
where, being stranded, it vegetates and rises to be a magni- 
ficent palm, affording shelter and food in abundance. The 



THE COCOA NUT. 



69 



coir huskj too, assists in this economy of nature : as the ex- 
posure to moisture and the heat of the sun are conducive to 
vegetation^ and as the salt-water would destroy the young 
plant if its tender shoot should be pushed out into the sea^ 
a curious arrangement takes place ; as soon as the shoot and 
root push out from the foramen^ they take a direction towards 
the other end of the nut through the mass of coir fibre^this 
gives an increased weight to that side of the nut which acts 
as ballast^ keeping it downwards and under water. The 
coolness to which the shoot is thus exposed assists in keep- 
ing the vegetative power in check; but no sooner has it 
landed upon some congenial soil than it throws out its strong 
roots^ and soon renders a barren island fertile and verdant. 

The quantity of nuts produced by one palm is immense : 
at least from twenty to twenty-five are borne monthly, and 
as the nut is very nutritious, their utility is very great in 
tropical climates, where field labour would be intolerable. 
Besides the nut, coir-fibre, and cocoa-nut oil, the cocoa- 
palm produces Toddy, or Palm-wine, which, though made 
from various palms, is chiefly made from the cocoa-palm. It 
is usually asserted that toddy is procured by cutting out the 
cabbage or the young leaves constituting the heart of the 
palm-tree, when, from the wound thus made, the sap flows. 



70 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



whichj when fermented^ forms toddy^ and then the plant 
dies. This is not the case; it is the spadix or flowering 
head which is cat, and from which the toddy flows. This 
prevents it from fruiting at the time ; but as the cocoa-nut 
palms afford twelve crops in the year^ it is only one month 
lost; if the operation be well managed. The cocoa-nut palm 
fruits monthly, and where it is cultivated, care is taken to 
thin the clusters, so as to allow each spadix to produce only 
from seven to ten nuts, otherwise they are inferior both in 
quahty and size. Mr. Braithwaite Poole, in his Statistics, 
states that in 1850 the imports were 1,575,000 nuts, or the 
enormous weight of 1575 tons; and be it remembered the 
cocoa-nut is merely used as a luxury, chiefly by children, 
and is not imported for any other economic purpose. 



71 



CHAPTER IV. 

FECULAS, OR STARCHES. 

The Starches of commerce are numerous and highly inter- 
esting ; they are well worthy of attention from the extraor- 
dinary influence they exert in the economy of vegetation. 
Unfortunately however much obscurity invests their history^ 
which^ as it requires the nicest microscopical investigations 
to elucidate^ must still occupy both time and attention. 
Starch is found to exist in all plants^ and although it appears 
first as a secretion of the plant-cell^ it appears eventually to 
assume the character of a cell itself. 

Leeuwenhoek^ the eminent German microscopist, asserted 
that starch granules were cells having soluble contents^ but 
an insoluble case ; this theory was also taken up by many 
other philosophical investigators^ especially those of the 



72 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



French schools. However, Payen, Persoz, and Fritsche, 
eminent investigators of this highly important point in ve- 
getable physiology, assert quite the contrary. According 
to these physiologists, starch granules are made up of con- 
centric laminae, which are superimposed upon one another, 
and that both their exterior and interior parts consist of the 
same material, being a substance peculiar to the vegetable 
kingdom, insoluble in cold water, but capable by heat of 
being converted into soluble sugar and gum. 

Starch is the nutritive matter of plants, which, like the 
bees, lay up a store for the winter season ; but as light has 
the effect of converting it into chlorophyle, or the green 
colouring matter of plants, nature designs that the reserve 
store shall usually be deposited in the underground roots, 
removed from the influence of the sun^s luminous rays. 
Here its quality of being insoluble in cold water is of im- 
mense importance, because, if soluble, the rains of winter 
would dissolve and wash out the store thus laid up, — from 
this it is protected by its insolubility ; but when the warmth 
of spring and the vitality of the plant begin to operate upon 
the starch-granules, they are converted into sugar and gum 
by the influence of a peculiar ferment called diastase ; after 
this conversion they are easily soluble in the juices of the 



STARCH. 



73 



plants and are carried into circulation for the nutrition of 
the new vegetation. These operations are not merely chemi- 
cal ; they depend also upon the vitality of the plant. Dr. 
Charles Inman, of Liverpool^ in a paper read before the 
Literary and Philosophical Society of that town,, has shown 
that the fall of the leaf, one of the most singular pheno- 
mena of vegetable Kfe, is caused by the deposit of a ring 
of starch-globules at the base of the petiole, where it is ar- 
ticulated to the stem ; this ring, continuing to increase in- 
ternally, eventually cuts through the petiole, and so dissevers 
the leaf from the plant. May we not then assume that the 
decreasing influence of the sun towards autumn, and the 
exhausted vitality of the plant, acting together, prevent the 
conversion of the starch, formed by the secretory cells of 
the leaf, into chlorophyle, and hence the leaf loses its green 
colour, becomes yellow or red, and finally, from the deposit 
of starch in its petiole, falls to the ground? We have 
however much to learn respecting the nature of starch ; even 
the form of the granules, in different species of plants, is 
a matter of much dispute, and most authors give different 
delineations (we give two in Plate XI. fig. 56, 57, from 
good authorities). 

When perfectly pure, all starch is the same in appearance 



74 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



and properties^ being a fine white^ silky^ or glistening-look- 
ing powder^ which will not bind together by pressure be- 
tween the fingers. By mixture with other matters belonging 
to the various plants from which it is procured^ it however 
assumes other characteristics^ which are permanent in many 
species in so complete a degree that the starch-granules ofi'er 
an indication of the species of the plant. 

All kinds of grain yield starch in abundance. Wheat 
starch is manufactured in very large quantities^ but rarely 
to serve for food^ its principal use being as a stiffening ma- 
terial for textile fabrics ; its mode of manufacture is as fol- 
lows : — wheaten flour is steeped in cold water for two or 
three weeks ; this causes acetous fermentation^ w^hich dis- 
solves a large portion of the gluten by which the starch was 
held combined ; the residue is washed thoroughly with clean 
cold water upon fine sieves ; here the starch and water pass 
through^ while the bran and a further portion of the gluten 
remain behind to be rejected. "When the starch is thus 
washed thoroughly pure, it is placed in wooden boxes with 
perforated bottoms, lined with canvas, through which the 
moisture drains; when nearly dry, it is cut into square 
masses and placed on porous tiles to absorb any remain- 
ing moisture, after which it is finally dried in a stove; 



STARCH. 



75 



while dryings it splits into those curious long angular frag- 
ments in which we usually see it. Latterly the Germans 
have sent us some very fine samples of wheaten starch in 
thin round sticks^ about three inches in length and the six- 
teenth of an inch in diameter; we however import very 
little wheaten starch, owing to the high duty^ — not more 
than two to three tons are imported annually. 

Potato starchy made from the common potato^ Solanum 
tuberosum [Solanacece] , by an exactly similar process to that 
detailed above^ is an article of considerable importance as 
an import^ and also as a cheap substitute for wheaten starch ; 
it is always in the form of a fine glistening powder^ and is 
usually imported from France and Holland, in sacks and 
bags. It is very extensively used in the manufacturing 
districts for dressing calicoes, muslins, etc. When heated to 
210° starch becomes altered from a substance insoluble in 
cold water to one perfectly soluble both in cold and hot 
water; this is in appearance the same as the starch, but 
when dissolved has all the properties of gum, and is now 
extensively used under the name of British gum, which is 
employed for various purposes, especially rendering postage- 
stamps and envelopes adhesive. Potato starch so altered is 
called Dextrine. It also is imported in sacks from Prance ; 



76 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



when dissolved this is British gum^ which^ besides its other 
applications, is of immense use in dressing muslin and crape 
goods. Of potato starch and dextrine, as much as 300 
tons have been imported from France, Holland, and Germany 
in one year, but its importation is very uncertain. The 
quantity manufactured in Great Britain is enormous; the 
returns however include wheaten starch, and show that of 
the two kinds of starch mentioned, not less than 20,000 
tons, of the value of £460,000, are annually manufactured. 

Aerow-Eoot (West Indian), the produce of Maranta 
arundinacea, (Nat. Ord. Marantacea^ (Plate XI. fig. 53.) 

This fecula is remarkably pure, and is in the form of a 
fine white glistening powder mixed with small lumps, which 
are however easily pulverized between the fingers ; its starchy 
character is easily seen by the microscope, under which it is 
seen to consist of small granules concentrically laminated ; 
the rings are very fine, and gradually increase in size from an 
extremely small one, which seems apparently to occupy the 
apex, and has been named the hilum. West Indian arrow- 
root resembles potato starch, but is of a yellowisli- instead 
of a -white colour, and the individual granules are 
less translucent. The fecula is not, as might be supposed 
from the name^ made from the root, but from a peculiar un- 




53 Axro\v Uoot mfcL-tmiergEoiuvi Stem., Si-.TuniLexic Hoot wAth. StaxctL Tubers. 
a.SeeboXL o£ iOuzoma. 55. Sectioxu of a Statax Taber. 56 Gxa^Lules ofm.eat Stax^K 
57 Granules of Totatoe StardL. 58¥aio]:Lot iiiili^sima . 



ARROW-EOOT. 



77 



derground stem^ or rhizome^ which^ whilst subterranean^ is 
white and scaly^ and contains the fecula in abundance ; but 
it is afterwards pushed out of the ground and forms a new 
plants for the nutrition of which the starch is intended. In 
procuring the arrow-root^ these rhizomes are taken up and 
beaten to a pulp in wooden mortars ; this mass is then well 
washed in cold water^ and the milky-looking fluid is passed 
through a fine hair sieve and left to settle ; the white sedi- 
ment is then again washed with pure water, from which it is 
allowed to subside ; the water is then decanted^ and the white 
sediment laid to dry upon sheets exposed to the sun ; it is 
then the arrow-root of commerce. That from Bermuda is 
most celebrated. 

East Indian Arrow-root is the starch procured from a 
species of Turmeric^ Curcuma angustifolia (Nat. Ord. Zin- 
giberace^e), (Plate XI. fig. 54). — This plant produces small 
rhizomes^ in which a remarkable pungency and colouring 
matter exists ; from the sides of these rhizomes spring a 
number of fibrous continuations of the rhizome; upon many 
of these fibres are small round tubers^ entirely free from the 
taste, smell, and colour of the main rhizome. These tubers, 
containing the starch in abundance, are collected and sub- 
mitted to washing processes similar to that of the West 



78 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



Indian arrow-root^ and the result is a fine white starchy but 
differing from the last in its more opake appearance and 
want of firmness between the fingers. There are two or 
three varieties^ especially one of a brownish-white colour^ 
probably derived from another species of Curcuma. 

Brazilian Arrow-root. — This is starch procured from the 
roots of the Manihot ntilissima (ISFat. Ord. EupJwrhiacece) , 
(Plate XL fig. 58). This shrub is also called Janijoha 
Manihot; it rises to the height of twenty to thirty feet, 
and has a large tuberous, or rather swollen root, the juice 
of which, like that of all portions of the plant, is of a most 
deadly poisonous character ; this poison is however rendered 
perfectly innocuous by heat. The roots, which sometimes 
weigh from twenty-five to thirty pounds, are rasped whilst 
fresh, and the pulp thoroughly washed; this takes place 
after the juice is drained out. The juice, though a deadly 
poison, when once boiled becomes the delicious sauce called 
Cassaripe, so much esteemed by epicures. When the pulp 
is washed with cold water, the starch is separated in a very 
pure state and dried in the sun ; it is then in the form of 
fine white powder, and is known in commerce under the 
name of Brazilian arrow-root. Its native names are Mous- 
sache and Cipipa. 



TAPIOCA. CASSAVA. 



79 



The term Arrow-root is derived from the use to which the 
American Indians apply the rhizomes of the true arrow-root ; 
they believe that when bruised and applied to the wounds of 
poisoned arrows^ they are an antidote to the poison. The 
various species of arrow-root are chiefly used as nutritious 
diet-food for invalids ; they are also employed for making 
puddings and other light kinds of food^ which are esteemed 
very digestible and nutritive^ when combined with milk. 
We have imported^ of all the kinds of arrow-root^ about 
400 tons annually. 

Tapioca is also produced by the Manikot utilissima (or 
Janijpha Manihot) ; the only difference in the preparation 
is, that the starch, after being washed out of the pulp of the 
root, instead of being dried by the sun, is dried upon hot 
plates, by which process it is partially converted into dex- 
trine ; whilst drying in this kind of way, it is stirred with 
iron rods, which break up the pasty mass and give in drying 
the very irregular rocky appearance peculiar to tapioca. 
This preparation is much used in making puddings. The 
quantity imported has of late years immensely increased, — 
about 600 to 800 tons are now received annually. 

Cassaya, Mandioca, Farinha, or Farme cle Manioc. — 
These also are preparations from the roots of the tapioca 



80 



FOPULAE ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



plant. Instead of washing the starch from the pulp^ the 
pulp is dried upon hot metal plates, and afterwards roughly 
powdered ; this rough powder^ according to its fineness^ is 
called by the various names above mentioned. It is much 
used in the Brazils to make flat thin cakes^ like the oaten 
cakes of Scotland^ which are known as Cassava bread ; very 
large quantities of this preparation (Mandioca flour) are 
imported and sent to the manufactories^ to serve as a sub- 
stitute for common starch. The Portuguese name Farinha 
is also often used in commerce to designate the varieties of 
Mandioca meal. 

Tous LES Mors. — The produce of an unknown species 
of Canna (Nat. Ord. Marantace(2) ; it is usually said to be 
produced by Canna coccinea, from the rhizomes or under- 
ground stems ; but the real species cannot be named with 
certainty^ and its true history must remain to be determined 
by future investigation. Many of the useful products of 
the vegetable kingdom are enveloped in the same uncer- 
tainty regarding their origin. 

Tous les Mois is very much like a fine quality of arrow- 
root ; it is however very distinct when examined microsco- 
pically, the particles being larger than those of any other 
known fecula. It all comes from the island of St. Kitt% 




4i3 SsLgoTakiL. 44»Coco£Ll!Jiit Palm. 4?5 AnxencaTL Aloe 
46 . GoriujLti XaOm . -^7. Date Talm . 



SAGOo 



81 



where it is extensively manufactured by a process which 
is not known, but said to be very difficult ; this however 
can only arise from the tenacity with which the starch gra- 
nules are held in the cellalar tissue, and the consequent 
difficulty in washing them out. About 10 tons are annually 
imported. It is entirely confined to dietetic purposes. 

Sago.— The fecula of several species of Palms, but chiefly 
from Sagiis RumpJiii (Plate IX. fig. 43), 8, IcBvis, and Sa- 
^uents RumpJiii, 

These Palmacem are palm-trees of moderate size, from 
twenty to thirty feet in height, and usually found in swampy 
or marshy situations. The Sago-palms have thick stems, 
which externally are hard like that of the bamboo; the in- 
terior is filled with pith, or cellular tissue, which contains an 
enormous quantity of starch or sago. This large supply of 
vegetable nutriment is provided for the maturation of the 
fruit ; for no sooner has the flowering of the palm ceased, 
and the fruit begun to form, than the cells, with their store 
of fecula, all disappear, leaving the stem quite a hollow 
shell. This is one of those wondrous provisions of an all- 
wise Creator for carrying out the beautifully varied arrange- 
ments of the Yegetable Kingdom, and at the same time 
furnishing food to his favoured creature man. 

G 



82 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



lu order to procure the sago, it is of course necessary to cut 
down the tree ; this is done before the flowers are developed ; 
the stem is then cut into short lengths and split open, the 
pith scraped out and submitted to repeated washings, which 
separate the sago. By this operation the sago sinks in the 
water, and the fibrous and cellular matter of the stem floats 
and is easily separated ; the sago is afterwards dried in the 
sun, and constitutes the sago-flour or sago-meal of commerce, 
which is now used as starch by our manufacturers in consi- 
derable quantities ; it is also used as food by the natives of 
the Indian Archipelago, where the plants are native, and 
where they are extensively cultivated. In order to fit this 
sago-meal for food in the European market, the natives 
submit it, whilst wet, to a curious process of granulation, 
which, besides forming it into small round translucent bead- 
like grains, gives it a pearly lustre. The exact method of 
granulating sago is unknown to Europeans. 

There are two or three very distinct varieties of sago 
known in commerce. The most common is the 2^6arl sago, 
which is in grains about the size of coarse sand, but beau- 
tifully rounded. The granulated sago is in larger grains, 
about the size of a mustard-seed ; this is an elegant prepa- 
ration, which is coining into more general use ; and lastly 



MAIZE STAECH. RICE STAECH. 



83 



the hrown sago [Sagu fuscum of Pereira^) which is rarely 
met with ; a sample of it was shown in the Liverpool Col- 
lection of Imports at the Exhibition of 1851 ; it was almost 
as large as the confection called caraway-comfits^ of a greasy 
appearance and reddish-brown colour; indeed^ it was not 
unlike radish-seeds^ but rather larger ; this is most usually 
known in the market as Borneo Sago. Nearly all the sago 
we receive comes from Singapore ; but that place is merely 
the entrepot : it is produced in most of the islands of the 
Indian Ocean and forwarded to Singapore^ whence it is im- 
ported to Europe. The quantity brought to the United 
Kingdom has immensely increased within the last few 
years : it now amounts to nearly 5000 tons per annum (in- 
cluding all the varieties). It is extensively used as food, 
being very palatable, nutritious, and cheap : but the sago- 
meal or flour is principally consumed in the factories as 
starch for stiffening textile fabrics. 

Maize Starch. — This is the starch from Indian corn; 
it has scarcely yet become a commercial article ; a few lots 
only have been imported for experiment, and the Americans 
exhibited samples of it in the Great Industrial Exhibition 
under the name of Oswego Starch. 

EiCE Starch is almost, if not entirely, home-manufac- 

^ Pereira's Elements of Materia Medica and Therapeutics. 



84 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTAKY. 



tured; it is sold under the name of Patent Starch, and is 
now very extensively used both in the laundry, and also in 
the nauslin manufactories. 

Tahiti Aerow^Eoot, or Otaheite Salep, is the fecula 
produced by Tacca pinnatijida, (Nat. Ord. Taccacece,) 

The Tacca pimiatifida is a native of the Molucca Islands, 
and also the islands of the Pacific Ocean ; it is also exten- 
sively cultivated in various parts of China and India. Its 
tuberous roots under cultivation acquire considerable size, 
and are eaten by the natives of China, Cochin China, and 
various other parts of the world; they are however very 
bitter. The arrow-root formed from these tubers comes 
from Tahiti, and is there manufactured chiefly by the native 
converts to Christianity, under the superintendence of the 
missionaries. It is prepared by rasping the soft fleshy 
roots upon a rude kind of rasp, made by winding coir yarn 
round a piece of board ; the rigidity of the cocoa-fibre (coir) 
is quite sufficient to effect the purpose of rubbing the roots 
to a pulp, which is then washed with sea-water, and the 
fecula, which is abundant, is deposited from the water used 
in the process. It is found in commerce rarely, and is 
usually in packets, labelled ''^Arrow-root prepared by the 
native converts at the Missionary Stations in the South Sea 
Islands.^^ 



SALOOP. 



85 



The substances remaining to be mentioned under this 
chapter^ although they cannot be called starches^ yet depend 
for their value^ so much upon the fecula they contain^ that 
they cannot be considered altogether out of place in being 
ranked with the tvue /eculas, 

Salep^ or Saloop. — The roots of various species of ter- 
restrial OrcliidacecB, 

The imported Salep consists of the small dried tubers of 
some Orchideous plants : they have a horny appearance, 
being slightly translucent^ hard^ and of a dirty yellowish- 
white colour. It is imported from Smyrna and Constanti- 
nople^ but Dr. Eoyle says it is collected in Cashmere^ and 
consists of the tubers of Eulojohia cmnpestris. Large quan- 
tities find their way into the bazaars of India under the 
names of Salep hindreej Salep misree, and Salih misree j the 
last-mentioned name distinguishes a variety of the article 
which is obtained from Caubul. 

The salep of commerce contains a large quantity of the 
peculiar gummy principle hassorinej besides a considerable 
proportion of amylaceous matter^ which renders it highly 
nutritious. Por use it is reduced to powder^ and being 
boiled in water^ is used as a diet-drink ; formerly it was very 
extensively used in London as a breakfast drink amongst 



86 



POPULAE ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



the lower classes^ but the cheapness of tea and coffee has 
driven this beverage nearly out of use ; however^ a solitary 
saloojj-Yendev may still occasionally be seen with his tin ap- 
paratus for holding and keeping ifc warm; they are found 
only at daybreak^ usually in the purheus of the markets. 

Semolina, Semoletta, Semola, Semola raeita, Soojee, 
and Urena, are names used to designate a product of wheat. 
In some countries the wheat has its starch and gluten much 
more intimately combined than in others, the consequence 
is, it is harder, and is termed flinty. In grinding this wheat, 
some parts resist the millstones, but get rounded by the at- 
trition ; these hard parts are usually very small and round, 
but are occasionally oval ; they fall into the furrows of the 
millstones, from whence they are collected, and, according 
to the fineness of their size, they are called by one of the 
above names, and are usually imported from Italy. 

Manna-croup exactly resembles Semolina ; it comes from 
Russia, being usually imported in small quantities in the 
timber-ships which come from the Baltic. They all form 
admirable food for infants, and are much and deservedly es- 
teemed as materials for making light puddings for invalids. 
The imports of all sorts only amount to about 15 tons per 
annum. 



87 



CHAPTER V. 

SPICES. 

Now gentle gales, 
Fanning their odoriferous wings, disperse 
Native perfumes, and whisper whence they stole 
Those balmy spoils ; as when to them who sail 
Beyond the Cape of Hope, and now are past 
Mozambic, off a sea north-west winds blow 
Sabean odours from the spicy shore 
Of Araby the blest ; with such delay 
"Well pleased, they slack their course, and many a league, 
Cheer'd with the grateful smell, old ocean smiles." 

By the term Spices, a variety of substances are understood. 

The spices of Arabia have, from the remotest ages, been 
proverbial ; nevertheless, with all its spice-bearing celebrity, 
Arabia sends no spices to us, and it is doubtful if any are 
now yielded by that country. There is reason to believe 



88 



POPCLAE ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



that the designation was applied to all aromatic vegetable 
products ; and as many of these were doubtless produced in 
Arabia^ and her sea-girt boundaries made her the mart for 
similar products from other countries — thence arose her fame 
as " the land of spices and frankincense/^ There is reason 
too for supposing that a large trade was carried on in these 
productions^ chiefly arising from the use of spices and the 
aromatic gums in embalming the dead^ which was in those 
times the greatest use of such materials. Even in our time 
the term Sjoice applies to the most dissimilar parts of plants^ 
as the seeds, roots, bark, flowers, etc. ; and the only definition 
of the term we can give, is — a vegetable product which has 
an agreeable aromatic and pungent flavour, rendering it 
useful in the preparation of certain kinds of food and con- 
diments. The most important of the spices is 

Cinnamon. — The dried under-bark of the Cinnamomum 
Zeylankum, (Nat. Ord. Lauracece,) (Plate III. fig. 13.) 

At present the production of the true Cinnamon is chiefly 
confined to the island of Ceylon, where it is very extensively 
cultivated. Much dispute has arisen between various authors 
as to the derivation of the common name of this spice. It 
has been known from a very early period, and formed one 
of the ingredients in the holy oil of anointing used by Moses 



CINNAMON. 



89 



in sanctifying the holy things of the Tabernacle : — Take 
thou also unto thee principal spices^ of pure myrrh five 
hundred shekels^ and of sweet cinnamon half so much^ even 
two hundred and fifty shekels^ and of sweet calamus two 
hundred and fifty shekels^ and of cassia five hundred shekels, 
after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of olive oil a hin/^ 
Exodus XXX. 23, 34. This passage will also bear us out 
in saying that in ancient times the term spice applied to 
many things not spices according to our definition of the 
term; for instance, the myrrh and sweet calamus, the former 
being a gum-resin, and the latter a species of grass, pro- 
bably one of the Andropogons, many of which are highly 
fragrant. 

Some authors give the Hebrew name Kinman as to the 
origin of the modern name ; some attribute it to the Greek 
/ccvvdfjLco/JLov, first used by Herodotus, 430 years before 
Christ ; but as the plant is a native of the Malay Islands 
and Ceylon, the name is probably either of Malayan or Cin- 
galese origin, the former being Kaimanisj and the latter 
Cacpi-7iama, or sweet-wood. Both as a spice and also as a 
medicine, cinnamon has been for ages in high esteem. The 
Arabians received it from India, and from them it was trans- 
mitted to the Hebrews, Greeks, and Eomans, 



90 POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 

Although the cinnamon shrub is found growing wild in 
Java and Ceylon^ the wild cinnamon is not considered of 
any value ; the indigestible seeds are said to be carried from 
place to place by birds which feed upon the berries — a fact 
thus alluded to by Moore^ the Anglo-oriental poet : — 

And mine is the gentle song that bears 
From soul to soul the wishes of love^ 

As a bird that wafts through genial airs 
The cinnamon-seed from grove to grove." 

The same poet also gives an exquisite simile of the sweet- 
ness of the bark : — 

The dream of the injured patient mind. 

That smiles at the wrongs of men, 
Is found in the bruised and wounded rind 

Of the cinnamon, sweetest then." 

The shrub which produces the cinnamon belongs to the 
Laurel tribe^ and^ though not so compact as the common 
laurel [Cerasus Laurocerasus) y resembles it very much; it is 
an evergreen^ and the leaves are of a pale yellowish- green 
colour, deeply veined and ribbed ; they possess the same 
flavour as the bark, in a less degree; they were formerly 
sold as a substitute for the spice, under the name of folia 
malahathri, as were also the leaves of other species called 



CINNAMON. 



91 



Laums malahathrica, or Cinnamomum nitidum) and the C, 
Tamala. The common evergreen Laurel of the gardens 
does not belong to the same Natural Order as the cinnamons, 
and is only mentioned as resembling the spice-plant. 

The cinnamon-bark of commerce is in the form of thin 
rolled sticks, or quills, as they are technically called, about 
three feet in length, and compact. In Ceylon, the bark-peelers 
are caEed Choliahs ; they choose such branches or twigs as 
are three years old ; from these they remove the bark by 
making two or more longitudinal incisions, according to the 
size of the branch ; these cuts extend the whole length of 
the bark, which is then easily removed by inserting under 
it the point of the blade of the peeling-knife ; the next day 
the epidermis or upper bark separates easily, and is then 
removed, with the middle or green bark ; the portion left is 
the undermost or cinnamon bark, in which resides the beau- 
tiful flavour ; this, as it dries, curls up, and forms the quills, 
and before they become quite hard and brittle, the smaller 
ones are inserted into the larger ones, until compact sticks 
are made, which are not so liable to breakage, and do not 
take up so much room in packing as single quills. When 
dried, the bark is of a very peculiar rich brownish-yellow, 
which has received the name of cinnamon-colour ; it is very 



93 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



brittle, and the best is extremely thin, and fibrous in the 
longitudinal direction. 

Cinnamon is usually imported in round bundles, tightly 
covered with gunny matting. The quantity imported in 
1850 was 312 tons; but in ^ Poolers Statistics' it is stated 
that of this, 272 tons were re-exported, leaving only 40 
tons for consumption in this country ; this however, in con- 
sequence of the extreme lightness of cinnamon-bark, is a 
large quantity. 

Cassia, or Cassia-lionea. — This spice is supposed to be 
yielded by the Cinnamomwn Zeylanicum, the same plant as 
the true cinnamon, the difference probably arising either 
from the age of the shoots from which the bark is taken, or 
else from difference of climate and culture ; it is coarser, 
more strongly flavoured, but to some persons more agreeable 
than cinnamon j to others it is disagreeable. It is cultivated 
to a very great extent in China, whence it is imported in 
chests similar to those in which tea is packed. The imports 
in 1850 were nearly 300 tons. 

Cassia Buds. — This elegant spice is less known than it 
deserves to be ; the buds are supposed to be yielded by the 
same variety of cinnamon as that from which the Cassia- 
lignea is derived; they are the immature flowers gathered 



CLOVE BARK. 



93 



and dried; and possess the cinnamon flavour in addition to 
a most agreeable sweetness. The flowers of the cinnamon 
are borne in loose terminal bunches or panicles ; they are 
white in colour, and are succeeded by black berries about the 
the size of a sloe, the calyx remaining at the bottom ; these 
calyces are often mixed with the unexpanded flowers for 
Cassia-buds. According to some authors, the buds of other 
species of cinnamon, and especially those of C, Loureiri, are 
afeo dried and sold as Cassia-buds. 

There are several species of cinnamon which yield fragrant 
aromatic barks, but they do not often occur in commerce, 
and only in very small quantities ; they are 

The Culilawan Bark, produced by C. Ctdilawan, a native 
of Amboyna, often called Clove Bark, in consequence of its 
flavour resembling somewhat that of cloves. It must not 
be confounded with the Clove Bark of South America, 
which is not produced by any species of cinnamon. It is 
in rather thick flat pieces, of a brownish-red colour. Cinna- 
momum mhrum,, C, Javanicum, C, Siiitoc, and C, xantho- 
neuron^ also yield barks similar to the Culilawan. 

Clove Baek. — This bark is the produce of BicT/joellium 
caryopliyllatum, (Nat. Ord. Lanrace^e.) 

A large tree, which, according to Martins, is the finest of 



94 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



all the Laurel tribe found in the Brazils. Small parcels of 
Clove-bark are occasionally imported and sold for the pur- 
pose of mixing, when ground, with other spices; its colour 
is a clove-brown. It is much thicker than cinnamon, being 
about the sixteenth of an inch in thickness ; it is in quills, 
one within another, usually two feet in length and an inch 
in diameter, each quill bound tightly round with thin pieces 
of split rattan-cane. A fine plant of this interesting species 
is now growing in the stove of the Liverpool Botanic Garden, 
raised by Mr. Shepherd the curator, from seeds received by 
him from Para. 

Sassafras Nuts, or Pichurim Beans. — These are the 
product of another tree of the Natural Order Lauracem ; 
they are the cotyledons of a species of Green-heart called 
Nectandra Tuchury ; the seeds are split in two, and the 
halves, or cotyledons, are about an inch and a half in length 
and half an inch in width, convex on the outside, and rather 
concave on the inner surface, at one end of which the mark 
of the embryo is slightly indented. They have been called 
Wild Nutmegs, which is very erroneous ; they however have 
the flavour of that spice, added to that of Sassafras-wood. 
They are much in request with chocolate manufacturers for 
flavouring chocolate, as a substitute for the costly vanilla. 




ILEutmegTlaLTit . 12 . Gnxger Pla-at . 13 . CumamoiL Raiit . 14?. Alls pice Plazit . 



THE NUTMEG. 



95 



Their colour externally is a dark brown^ internally cinnamon 
brown. They are not often imported^ and cannot easily be 
met with^ owing to the demand which always exists for them. 

The Nutmeg. Mynstioa moschata, (Nat. Ord. Myris- 
tieacecB.) (Plate III. fig. 11.) 

This well-known spice is of comparatively modern intro- 
duction ; the first mention of it is by Avicenna^ a celebrated 
Arabian physician^ about the middle of the eleventh century : 
both Nutmegs and Mace were used by him medicinally^ and 
great virtues attributed to them. 

The nutmeg-tree reaches twenty to twenty-five feet in 
height ; it is finely formed, and strongly resembles our pear- 
tree in its general appearance, and also in its fruity which is 
*• not unlike the round Burgundy pear. Belonging to the Lin- 
nsean Class Dioecia, its pistils and stamens are on different 
plants ; the stamen-flowers are in small bunches of three or 
five, on short pedicels, the peduncle arising from the axils of 
the leaves ; the pistil-flowers are sometimes solitary, that is, 
singly placed on a footstalk or peduncle. The fruit consists 
of the fleshy pericarp, which, when ripe, splits or dehisces 
into two halves, showing inside the nut or nutmeg enclosed 
in an arillus or stringy covering, which is the Mace, The 
external portion of the fruit is not used, except occasionally 



96 



POPULAU ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



as a preserve. The arillus and the enclosed nut are both 
valuable spices. 

Por a long time the nutmeg culture was confined to its 
native habitat^ the Molucca Islands^ by the jealousy of the 
Dutch^ whose possession of these islands gave them command 
over their produce ; when however they were for a short time 
in possession of the English^ during the great European 
war^ the nutmeg and other spices were introduced to Penang 
and others of the Malay and Indian islands. The nutmegs 
we receive are chiefly from the island of Penang and from 
the Cape of Good Hope ; those of the Cape are first im- 
ported there from various places. 

There are several kinds of nutmegs, which are of inferior 
quality, and are the produce of different species of plants ; 
they are occasionally imported for the purpose of mixing 
with or adulterating the true spice ; they are — 

The Shell Nutmeg, Long Nutmeg, or Wild Nutmeg of 
Sumatra and Madagascar, which is the fruit of Mynstica 
3Iadagascariensis—T\ii^ nut is enclosed in a thin brittle 
shell, over which grows the arillus and pericarp. The shell 
is of dark brown colour, looking as if varnished; it is an 
inch and a half in length, and not much thicker than the 
common nutmeg. Its. value is very inferior. 



MACE. 



97 



The Wild Nutmeg of Brazil [Myristica Otoba) is another 
shell-nutmeg; the shell is blacky thin^ and deeply indented 
with marks of the arillus. It occurs very rarely. 

The False Nutmeg of the Indian Archipelago is much 
used as a substitute ; it is the fruit of Myristica spuria. 

The fruits of several Lauraceous plants also bear the name 
of Wild Nutmegs^ as — the Ackawai Nutmeg, the fruit of 
Acrodiclidium Camara ; the Clove Nutmegs of Madagascar, 
the fruit of Agat/iqp/iyllum aromaticum ; and the Brazilian 
Nutmegs, the fruit of the Cryptocarya moschata, — all of the 
Natural Order Lauracece, 

Used moderately, the nutmeg is a most agreeable spice ; 
its fine flavour depending upon a large quantity of two sorts 
of oil, one a colourless essential oil, and the other a yellow 
vegetable fat called Oil of Mace. In large quantities the 
nutmeg is injurious, acting as a narcotic. The quantity im- 
ported is annually about 120 tons, of which nearly one-half 
are re-exported. 

Mace, the arillus of the true nutmeg, is also a valuable 
spice ; it is a flat branching membrane, not unlike the enve- 
lope of a filbert, but of a' bright cinnamon-yellow colour ; 
the flavour resembles that of the fixed oil of nutmegs. 
Quantity imported in 1851, according to ^ Poolers Statistics/ 

H 



98 



POPULAE ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



34 tons; re-exported, 20 tons; used for home consumption, 
only 9 tons, — nearly all from Penang. 

Cloves are the unexpanded flower-buds of the Clove-tree. 
CaryophjUus aromaticus, (Nat. Ord. Mi/rtace^e.) (Plate 
IL fig. 10.) 

The Clove does not appear to have been long known in 
Europe : Sir J. E. Smith supposes it to be the Carunfel of 
Serapion, and the Carunfel helium of Avicenna, two Arabian 
physicians of the eleventh century ; but it was previously 
mentioned by Paulus Egineta, a Greek physician in the 
seventh century, under the name of Kapv6(j)vX\ov, It is a 
native of the Molucca Islands, and for a long time consti- 
tuted an important trade with Amboyna, the chief of the 
Moluccas. In this island alone, the Dutch, who were masters 
of the whole group, permitted the clove to be cultivated, 
carefully extirpating the plant from all the other islands ; and 
even here they only allowed a limited number of trees to be 
cultivated, lest the price should fall too low. This narrow 
policy produced its natural effect : it stimulated the desire 
of other nations to possess so valuable a spice, and eventually 
in 1770 the Erenchby some means obtained and introduced 
it to the Isle of Bourbon, where it flourished; thence it 
was carried to Cayenne and the West Indies; it is now 



CLOVES. 



99 



grown almost wherever the climate is suitable. Its culture 
is extremely easy, requiring no more attention than a pear- 
tree, which it very much resembles ; the trunk rises from 
fifteen to twenty feet, branching out horizontally about four 
or five feet from the ground. 

The clove-tree is remarkably handsome, being evergreen, 
and the beautiful pink buds and flowers are produced in 
great profusion, in short terminal panicles of from nine to 
fifteen or eighteen on each bunch ; the pedicels divide into 
threes, and are articulated, or jointed ; this very much faci- 
litates the falling off of the bud when the gatherers beat the 
trees with wands or reeds. They are either procured in this 
way or gathered by hand, after which they are dried in the 
sun or by fire ; this latter method is only employed in unfa- 
vourable seasons, as it injures the flavour. 

The average produce of a clove-tree in Amboyna is two 
or two and a half pounds per annum ; the first tree however 
which was planted by the French in the Mauritius was seen 
by M. Bory de St. Vincent in 1769 covered with cloves, 
who ascertained that it occasionally had produced the enor- 
mous quantity of 125 lbs. As it requires 5000 cloves to 
weigh one pound, there must have been upw^ards of 625,000 
flowers on this fine tree, which was forty feet in height. 



100 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



and of great circumference. Prom the slight resemblance 
this spice bears to a nail^ the corolla and sepals of the calyx 
forming the head^ and the long thin tapering ovarium the 
spike^ the Dutch named it Naghel ; the Spaniards Clavb ; 
the Italians CJiiodo ; and the French Clou ; from this last 
we have derived our name Clove, 

Besides being one of the most valuable spices^ the clove 
is very useful in medicine, its virtues residing in the aro- 
matic stimulant properties of its essential oil. Clove-stalks, 
which are said to be stronger than the cloves themselves, 
are occasionally imported for the distillation of the oil ; and 
sometimes, though very rarely, the preserved fruit reaches 
this country. We receive cloves from the East and West 
Indies, from the Mauritius, indirectly from Holland, and in 
1850 a snlall parcel was received from Brazil; it was not 
however ascertained whether they were there cultivated. 
The quantity of cloves imported in 1851 was not less than 
334 tons, of which only 70 tons were re-exported to the 
colonies and elsewhere. 

Allspice, Pimento, or Jamaica Pepper, is the unripe 
fruit of Hugenia Pimento dried in the sun. (Nat. Ord. 
MyrtacecE) (Plate III. fig. 14.) 

It is caUed Allsj)ice from the fact that its flavour resembles 



ALLSPICE. 



101 



that of a mixture of cloves^ cinnamon, and nutmeg. It 
agrees very closely in appearance with a spice mentioned by 
Pliny under the name of garyophyllon ; but it could not 
have been known to the Eoman naturalist, as it is a native 
of the West Indies, which of course were then unknown to 
the Old World. 

The Pimento is much cultivated in the West Indies, espe- 
cially in Jamaica, where it is formed into plantations, having 
broad walks between the rows of trees, called Pimento- 
walks. The berries are gathered when nearly ripe, at which 
time the essential oil, upon which they depend for their aro- 
matic flavour and pungency, is most abundant; they are 
spread upon sheets and wooden platforms purposely erected, 
and are frequently turned and winnowed whilst drying in 
the sun. When dried, the Allspice is about twice the size 
of a pepper-corn, and consists of a thin rough soft shell, 
perfectly round, and bearing at the top the marks of the 
calyx, and occasionally, but rarely, the short pedicel at its 
base ; it encloses two seeds, which are closely packed within 
the shell. The flavour resides chiefly in the shell; the co- 
lour is a fine clove-brown. The consumption of allspice is 
very great, it being a cheap and very useful spice : 22,000 
bags, weighing 1022 tons, were imported into London 



102 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



and Liverpool in 1850^ and about one-fifth of that quantity 
were re-exported. 

Black Pepper. — The dried ripe berries of Piper nigrum, 
(Nat. Ord. Pijoeracea.) (Plate II. fig. 9.) 

This spice was known to the ancients ; it was used by the 
Greeks and Eomans^ both medicinally and as a condiment ; 
they received it from India,, its native country. 

The Black Pepper plant has a climbing habit ; the jointed 
stems occasionally grow as much as twelve feet in length ; 
the leaves are thick^ fleshy^ and ellipticab broad at the base 
and pointed at the apex; the flowers form compact spikes 
all round the terminations of the short bunches ; they are 
small and inconspicuous, and are succeeded by a compact 
cluster of round berries, which are at first green, but ripen 
to a bright-red colour. They are gathered as soon as they 
begin to redden, for if allowed to ripen fully, they lose 
their pungency and fall off ; in drying they become wrinkled 
and black. The pepper plant is strictly tropical in its cha- 
racter, but grows freely wherever the climate is suitable ; 
hence its culture has been greatly extended, and it is now 
found as a regular crop in the East and West Indies, in 
Borneo, Sumatra, the Molucca Islands, the Malay Peninsula, 
Siam, Malabar, and other places. 



PEPPER. 



103 



White Pepper is the same as black pepper^ except that 
the black wrinkled covering of the seed is removed. To 
accomplish this^ the dried berries are first soaked in water^ 
and when the outer layer is softened they are rubbed until it 
is removed. The internal seed is of a whitish-grey colour^ 
and when dried constitutes white pepper. It often undergoes 
a process of bleaching by chlorine^ which improves the co- 
lour^ but deteriorates the quality. 

The quantity of pepper imported is immense : the returns 
of the Board of Trade give 3608 tons for 1851 ; but from 
this quantity we must deduct about one-sixteenth for Cayenne 
Pepper and Long Pepper^ which are always returned with 
the above peeper. 

Long Pepper is the unripe spadix^ or fruit-spike^ of the 
Piper longum, (Nat. Ord. PiperacecB.) (Plate 11. fig. 8.) 

This plant is shrubby and climbing^ bearing its flowers at 
the ends of short branches^ in spikes or spadiceSy somewhat 
resembling our common Rib-grass or Plantain-weed^ well 
known as a favourite food for canaries. The seeds are 
packed so closely on the peduncle as to appear one compact 
mass ; they are gathered whilst still green^ and dried in the 
sun ; they have a white mealy appearance when dried. 

The Long Pepper is a native of the Circar Mountains of 



104 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



India, where it grows amongst the bushes; it is however 
extensively cultivated in many parts of India, especially 
Bengal. The use of long pepper in this country is rather 
limited, and as the returns are always included in those of 
black pepper, the consumption cannot be exactly ascertained. 

Ginger. — The dried underground stem, or rhizome, of the 
elegant reed-like tropical plant. Zingiber officinale, (Nat. 
Ord. Zingiber acece,) (Plate III. fig. 12.) 

Some doubt exists as to the native country of this spice, 
but it is generally supposed to belong to the warmer parts 
of Asia. It has long been known and esteemed. Dioscorides 
and Pliny both mentioned it ] the former under the name 
of ^(/yyl^epc^;, and the latter Zingiberi, By modern botanists 
it was formerly called Amomum Zingiber ; but Mr. Eoscoe, — 
whose splendid work on the ^ Scitaminese,^ a Natural Order 
to which the Ginger was formerly referred, has entitled him 
to as high a rank amongst botanists as his miscellaneous 
works have elevated him amongst writers of belles lettres, 
• — removed the ginger-plant from the genus Arnomum, and 
raised it to a distinct genius, to which he judiciously gave 
the Plinian name Zingiber. 

The ginger of commerce is in the form of dry wrinkled 
rhizomes, called races, about two or three inches in length. 



GINGER. 



105 



branchings flat^ and of a whitish colour; their breadth 
about three parts of an inch. There are two varieties^ 
which depend upon the mode employed in preparing them. 
When the root-stalk or rhizome is about a year old^ it is 
dug ups scalded with boiling water, and then dried ; so pre- 
pared, it is called black ginger. If, in addition to this pro- 
cess, it is also carefully scraped, so as to remove the wrinkled 
epidermis, it then receives the name of white gingery which 
often in this country undergoes the still further process of 
bleaching with chloride of lime. 

Although it is fully understood that the mere mode of 
preparation leads to the above distinction into two sorts, it 
is thought that there also exist two sorts of the ginger- 
|ilant, one yielding darker-coloured races than the other. 
Thus the East Indian Ginger, though unscraped and un- 
bleached, is called White Ginger, because its wrinkled epi- 
dermis is as light-coloured as the African ginger is when 
carefully scraped. This opinion is supported by the testi- 
mony of Dr. Wright and other botanists of eminence. 
The varieties recognized in commerce are — 
White varieties: — Jamaica White Ginger, Barbadoes 
Ginger, African Ginger, East Indian Ginger, and Telli- 
cherry Ginger. 



106 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



Blach varieties: — Jamaica Black Ginger and Malabar 
Dark Ginger. 

The term hlach ginger is very erroneous^ as the colour of 
the darkest is only a dirty stone-colour. 

The newly-formed races which are put forward in spring 
are often cut off and preserved in syrup^ much of which is 
imported in jars under the name of ^preserved ginger, and^ 
as an agreeable addition to the dessert, is much esteemed. 
The quantity of ginger imported from all places in 1850 was 
about 500 tons. 

Capsicum, or Chilli. — The fruit or berry of Capsicum 
annumn, (Nat. Ord. Solanaceae,) 

The variety of Capsicum usually found in commerce is in 
large withered dark-red pods, always broken, and the pulp 
dried up. It comes packed in bales of about 2| cwt. from 
the East Indies, where it is a native. The principal use of 
this is to make Cayenne pepper. 

But besides this, we receive several other species and va- 
rieties, usually as pickles in vinegar. Thus — The Cherry 
Pepper, or Eound Chilli [Capsicum cerasiforme) ; the Bell 
Pepper [C grossum) ; the Long Capsicum [C longum)\ the 
Heart-shaped Capsicum [C cordiforme) ; the Yellow Cap- 
sicum (C lutemn) ; the Bird Pepper [C. haccatum). These 



CAEDAMOMS. 



107 



are rarely received^ except in a pickled state. They are 
much valued as a digestive condiment^ especially by dys- 
peptic persons ; and are often raised both for ornament and 
use in this country. About 80 to 100 tons are sometimes 
imported in one year; the imports are however very ir- 
regular. 

Caedamoms. Mettaria Cardamommn, (Nat. Ord. Zingi- 
beracece.) (Plate XVI. fig. 81.) 

The seeds of several plants pass in the druggists^ shops 
under the general name of Cardamoms^ but those of the 
Mettaria above mentioned are the true officinal^ small^ or 
Malabar Cardamoms. The uses of this seed are strictly 
medicinal with us^ and are usually described as Materia 
Medicaj their use in medicine however is only that of a warm 
aromatic stimulant spice ; and in India they are much used 
as a favourite condiment for various kinds of food, formings 
according to Mr. White, an important accessory to the luxu- 
ries of the inhabitants of India and other parts of Asia. . 

The cardamom is a three-sided seed-pod, pointed at each 
end, and about half an inch in length, of a pale straw-co- 
lour, having the surface roughened with five longitudi- 
nal furrows, and a deeper one in the middle of each side ; 
the diameter is about half the length, and the seeds are 



108 



POPULAR ECONOMIC EOTxiNY. 



about the size of mustard-seeds^ with a rough dark-brown 
exterior^ and rather irregular shape. 

Besides the officinal cardamom^ the following occasionally 
find their way into the market, but are of inferior value : — 

The Ceylon, or Wild Cardamom {JElettana major) is 
longer, often with the remains of the persistent calyx at one 
end, and the stalk at the other. It is rarely imported. 

The Java Cardamom {Amomum maximum), the produce 
of another genus of the same Natural Order. — This is al- 
most globular in shape, and nearly as large as a moderate- 
sized gooseberry. They are cultivated in various parts of 
India, but are not much esteemed in Europe. 

The Eound or Cluster Cardamom [Amomum CardamO' 
mum,)—K. native of Sumatra, Java, and other Indian 
islands; it is nearly globular; they are of rare occurrence. 

The quantity of all kinds imported is about 25 tons per 
annum. 

Grains of Paradise, or Malaguetta Pepper. — Sup- 
posed by Dr. Pereira to be the seeds of two distinct species 
of plants, the Amomum Grana-paradisi of Sir J. E. Smith, 
and the A, Meleguetta, Roscoe ; and probably of others. 

They are always imported from the coast of Guinea. 
The seeds, which are freed from the husk, are longer and 



VANILLA. 



109 



rounder than the seeds of the true cardamom : they are of 
a glossy dark-brown colour, and a warm pungent taste, re- 
sembling pepper, with a slight flavour of camphor. The 
natives of Africa use this seed as a spice, and with them it 
is in great esteem. With us it is used to give a fictitious 
strength to spirits and beer, but principally the former, 
being extensively used with capsicum and juniper-berries to 
give a hot strong flavour to London gin ; it is also used in 
some veterinary medicines. The former use is illegal, but 
it nevertheless prevails to a great extent. The quantity im- 
ported is about 1 8 tons annually. 

Vanilla. — The seed-pods of Vanilla aromatica, (Nat. 
Ord. Orchidacem.) 

The Vanilla, or Vanile^ as it is sometimes called, is in 
the form of long thin pods, from nine to twelve inches in 
length, but not exceeding a quarter of an inch in thickness, 
filled throughout their entire length with very minute black 
oily seeds, having the appearance of a black paste ; the out- 
side of the pod is slightly wrinkled in longitudinal furrows, 
and is of a shining dark -brown colour; altogether it resembles 
a thin brown stick rather than the seed-vessel of a plant. 
Both the flavour and smell of vanilla is remarkably delicate 
and agreeable, and is peculiar to the Orchideous plants. 



110 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



As a spice^ it is used for flavouring ices, custards, and 
particularly chocolate, for which purpose the Spaniards 
employ it extensively ; but its high price prevents its being 
used to any great extent in this country. An inferior kind, 
with shorter and thicker pods, is occasionally met with ; it 
is probably the pods of F". sylvestris and Y, sativa. The 
quantity imported is small, amounting only to about 5 or 6 
cwt. per annum. 

Canella-Baek.— The inner bark of Canella alba, (Nat. 
Ord. Canellacece, Yon Martins.) 

This is another of the articles usually classed as Materia 
Medica, but which has as fair a title to be considered a spice 
as cinnamon or clove-barks. It is the produce of a tree 
growing fifty feet in height, and is separated from the outer 
bark by beating. The Negroes of the West Indies and 
America, where it is a native, use it as a spice. Large 
quantities are produced and exported from the Bahamas, 
where it is termed Wild Cinnamon and White-wood bark. 

Canella-bark is in thick quills, or portions of quills; it 
is of a light drab colour, about one-sixteenth of an inch in 
thickness, having a slight odour of cloves ; the taste is that 
of a mixture of cloves, cinnamon, and pepper. In this 
country it is only used as a medicine. It has often been 



MUSTARD. 



Ill 



confounded with a medicinal bark called Winter^s Bark, or 
Drimys Winteri, but it is quite distinct from it. The im- 
ports are very small and occur irregularly. 

Mustard.— The seeds of Sinapis nigraj often mixed with 
Sinapis alba, (Nat. Ord. Crucifer^e,) 

The small round seeds of these two species of Sinapis 
are crushed between rollers, and then pounded in mortars ; 
it is then sifted through a fine sieve, and yields a coarse 
flour of mustard, which is again sifted through a finer sieve, 
and the product is the flour of mustard in common use. It 
is often adulterated with the seeds of the Charlock or Wild 
Mustard {Sinapis arvensis), and wheaten flour is also added 
for the same purpose. The outer skin of the seeds, sepa- 
rated by the siftings, forms a coarse poAvder, which, under 
the initials P. D. [i. e, pepper-dust), is sold for adulterating 
pepper, and is also used for expressing the fixed Oil of 
Mustard. Mustard-seed is largely imported from the East 
Indies for the expression, of oil ; and white mustard-seed is 
imported from Northern Germany in small quantities, for 
grinding with the black mustard-seed grown in this country. 



There are a few seeds which, from their pungent aromatic 



112 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



flavour^ are used as condiments^ and may very properly be 
classed with the spices ; the principal are these : — 

Caeaway. — The seed of Carum Cand, (Nat. Ord. Urn- 
belliferce, Jussien; A^iaceoe, Lindley.) 

This plant derives its name from Caria^ its native country ; 
it received this appellation from the Roman natural historian 
Pliny j Dioscorides called it /capo?^ evidently for the same 
reason. Botanically speakings it is properly a fruit , the 
brown outer covering being the shelly or seed-vessel; and^ 
two of these being always joined together when on the 
plants they are termed mericarps, or half-fruits. 

The taste of the Caraway being warm^ aromatic^ and 
agreeable, and its production cheap, it forms a valuable 
spice for the humbler classes, and is much used in confec- 
tionery. It grows wild in many parts of England, having 
become naturalized; in some parts it is much cultivated, 
especially in Essex ; we however receive large quantities 
both from Holland and Germany. 

Besides being used to flavour various kinds of food, the 
essential oil of these seeds is used in medicine, and the 
seeds themselves are enveloped in sugar, and form the con- 
fection called caraway comfits,^^ so well known to children. 
The manner in which these are manufactured is not gene- 



COEIAT^DEE. 



113 



rally known, and perhaps few have taken the trouble to re- 
flect how such small seeds are so completely and regularly 
invested with their coating of white sugar. As the process 
is as simple as it is curious, we will describe it : — In the 
first place a large copper pan, similar in shape to the pans 
of the small scales used in shops, and capable of holding 
about half a bushel, is suspended by three cords over a 
charcoal fire, at such a distance as to be slightly heated; 
into this, about a pint of seeds are put, with a very small 
quantity of fine syrup made from refined sugar ; the mani- 
pulator keeps the pan moving quickly round and round, 
by which means the seeds are all slightly coated with 
the syrup, and prevented sticking together, whilst the heat 
dries them completely ; this operation is repeated from time 
to time, increasing the quantity of syrup as they get larger, 
until the proper quantity is applied. The whole art of the 
operator consists in patiently and actively conducting the 
process, so that the comfits become thoroughly dried each 
time before more syrup is added, and by the regular motion 
their sticking together is prevented. 

CoRiANDEU. — The fruit of Coriandrum sativtm, another 
of the UmhellifercB, 

These seeds are used in a similar manner to those of the 

I 



114 



POPULAU ECOKOMIC BOTANY. 



caraway^ except that tliey are very rarely distilled for their 
essential oil. The Coriander has an aromatic sweet taste, 
with very little pungency j it also is a fruit {mericar])) , 
though commonly designated a seed ; it is, like the caraway, 
an annual plant. Its native country is the South of Europe, 
some writers say Italy ; it is however capable of enduring a 
very wide geographical distribution, for it grows abundantly 
in India, and bears the chmate of Britain equally well ; 
indeed, it is sometimes found growing wild, and bearing 
fruit, from seeds accidentally scattered. Its history is much 
more ancient than that of the last-mentioned seed. The 
food which fell from heaven to feed the Israelites in the de- 
sert is thus described in Exodus xiv. 31 : ^^And the house 
of Israel called the name thereof Manna : and it was like 
coriajider-^etdi, white; and the taste of it was like wafers 
made with honey.^^ It was also known to most of the 
writers of antiquity, by many of whom it was believed to 
possess great medicinal virtues ; its Greek name was KopLov, 
or fcopiavvov, whence its modern name coriander. 

The whole plant, when growing, has a most disagreeable 
odour, and grows about two feet in height. The flowers are 
white and small, like most of the parsley tribe, and the 
seeds, growing in pairs, are round, except a sKght flatness 



ANISEED. 



115 



on the sides by which they adhere together ; they are about 
twice the size of a mustard-seed^ and are finely ribbed from 
the base to the apex. It is cultivated in many parts of 
England^ particularly about Ipswich and in Essex. About 
10 to 15 tons are also imported annually from Germany. 

Anise^ or Aniseed. — The fruit of anotlier Umhellifer, 
Fimpinella Anisum, 

Also of ancient reputation^ deriving its familiar name 
from the Greek aviaov, and it would appear to liave been 
cultivated by the Hebrews^ for we read in Matthew xxiii. 
23, " Woe unto you^ Scribes and Pharisees^ hypocrites ! 
for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and ctmmin, and have 
omitted the weightier matters of the law.^^ Some writers 
imagine the anise here mentioned to have been the common 
Dill [Anethm graveolens), but apparently without reason^ 
as the plant is a native of the Greek Islands and of Egypt, 
wdience the Israelites derived many of their economic plants. 
It is used chiefly for flavouring liqueurs and various articles 
of confectionery ; its Essential Oil is also extensively used. 

Aniseed is very much like the finer kinds of parsley-seed 
in size and shape. It is largely cultivated in Malta^ Spain, 
Germany, and in the East Indies, where it is called Aneesoon, 
But the term aniseed is applied in India to another seed 



116 



POPULAE ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



having similar properties^ but produced by a very dissimilar 
plant, the lUicium anisatum, or Star-Anise. The principal 
imports are from Alicant and Hamburg, and amount to 
about 70 tons annually. 

Cumin. — Another fruit of the same Order, produced by 
Cmiinum Cymimm, Its name is also derived from the 
Greeks, who call it Kvfjuvov, It was well known also to 
the ancient Jews, for, besides the mention of it in the pas- 
sage above quoted, we also find it alluded to much earlier, 
by the prophet Isaiah, xxviii. 27 : ^^Tor the fitches are not 
tlireshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart-wheel 
turned about upon the cummin ; but the fitches are beaten 
out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.^^ The trans- 
lators have spelled the word rather differently, but there is 
no doubt the common cumin is the plant mentioned. 

The cumin-seeds are somewhat like the caraway, but 
nearly twice as large. The flavour is to most persons disa- 
greeable ; but our Hebrew countrymen consume considerable 
quantities in their cookery. The other uses of this article 
are chiefly medicinal, especially in veterinary pharmacy. It 
is a native of Egypt and other parts of Africa, and is ex- 
tensively cultivated in the South of Europe, and in India, 
where it is called K^moon mffed. Our imports are princi- 



ANGELICA. 



117 



pally from Sicily^ and only amount to three or four tons per 
annum. 

We must here mention another umbelliferous plant which 
is used as a condiment ; the mode of using it however dif- 
fering very materially from those above mentioned^ the 
green stems and the dried roots being the parts employed : — 

The Angelica plant [Archangelica officinalis), a compa- 
ratively modern addition to our aromatic condiments. It is 
a native of Northern Europe, but is cultivated as far south 
as Spain and Italy. The green stems are cut into short 
pieces, and preserved by candying with sugar; thus pre- 
pared, they are used in confectionery, and have a very agree- 
able pungent warm taste, and are esteemed useful in assist- 
ing indigestion. Candied Angelica is however less used at 
our desserts than it deserves to be. Large quantities, 
amounting to 30 or 40 tons, of the dried root are annually 
imported from Hamburg, and are chiefly used by distillers 
and rectifiers of gin in giving a spurious strength to that 
and other spirits. 

TuEMERic is also used as a spice, particularly in curries ; 
but as dyeing is its principal use, it will be described as a 
dye-stuff. 



118 



CHAPTER VI. 

MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES. 

Undee this head we must place a few articles which are of 
great importance^ but they cannot be arranged under any 
of the previous chapters. They are usually described under 
the name of groceries ; but as this terra is so indefinite, we 
prefer the above title for the group now under consideration. 
The first we shall describe is 

Tea. — This well-known vegetable product consists of the 
dried leaves of two or three species of Tliea, as Bohea 
(Plate I. fig. 1), T, viridis, and T, Assamica (?). (Nat. Ord. 
Ternstrdrniace(E . ) 

It was long supposed that green tea was the produce of 
Thea viridisy and black tea of T, Bohea, Mr. Robert Fortune 
however ascertained that both kinds were usually made from 



BLACK TEA. 



119 



T, viricUs, and the Chinese tea-makers employed by the East 
India Company in Assam made both black and green teas 
from each of the species ; the essential difference consisting 
solely in the different methods of preparation. 

Black tea is prepared by throwing the leaves into a heap 
immediately after they are gathered ; this induces a slight 
degree of fermentation^ or spontaneous heatings similar to 
that wliich occurs when hay is stacked without being per- 
fectly dry. The fermentive process renders the leaves 
flaccid^ and changes their colour^ darkening it considerably ; 
so that when it is brought to the twisters it is nearly black. 
In this state small bowls of the leaves are brought in and 
set before the operators^ who, by a dexterous action of the 
thumb and forefinger, twist every leaf in the bowl, the con- 
tents of which are then taken to the drying-room, where 
they are put into a cylinder of basket-work, which is turned 
over a small charcoal fire; here the leaves are dried for one 
hour, receiving, during this period, one or two stirrings, by 
which the tea is thoroughly exposed to the drying influence 
of the fire ] then they are again returned to the bowls, and 
are once more rubbed and twisted, after which they are 
shaken in a hair sieve, which separates the fine dust from 
the leaves \ they are then again returned to the wicker cy- 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



linder, and over a much slower fire undergo the final drying, 
by which they become black and crisp. This process is 
sometimes slightly varied according to circumstances. 

The principal varieties of Black Tea are Bohea ( Vo-lie in 
Chinese) ; Congou {Cong-fou) ; Souchong [Se-on-cliong) ; 
Pekoe (Pe-kow) ; and Caper, which is in little hard rounded 
masses, consisting of the very fine dust of the other varieties, 
made up with gum: it is a high-priced tea, though really 
not of superior quality. 

Green Tea does not undergo the process of fermentation 
or heating ; on the contrary, the leaves are at once submitted 
to a high temperature in pans, called kuos^ placed over 
charcoal fires ; they are taken off from time to time, and 
the twisters manipulate the leaves with their fingers, rolling 
them up, whilst still flaccid with the contained moisture. 
When over the fire they are constantly and briskly stirred, 
and the rising steam is blown or fanned away. 

The principal varieties of Green Tea are Hyson Tea 
(Te-cJiune^ or first crop), Hyson Skin, Twankay, Imperial, 
and Gunpowder. 

Some of the teas, both black and green, have a fine 
cowslip odour, which is produced by mixing the small dried 
flowers of the sweet-scented olive {Olea fragrans) » 



LIE-TEA. 



121 



Owing to the high duty and high price of tea^ it is an 
article which is much sophisticated^ not only by the dealers 
in this country, who adulterate with the leaves of various 
indigenous trees, and the exhausted tea-leaves re-dried, but 
also by the Chinese themselves. 

Latterly large quantities of a spurious article have found 
their way into this country under the name of Lie-tea^ given 
to it by the Chinese manufacturers. It is used solely for 
the purpose of adulterating other teas, and at first sight 
has the appearance of fine gunpowder ; it is composed of 
the dust and sweepings of the tea- warehouses ; this dust is 
mixed with chrome-yellow and Prussian-blue, in very fine 
powder, and in such proportions as to give the peculiar 
light-green tea colour to this compound. A liquid, formed 
by boihng the husks of rice in water until it has the con- 
sistency of thin gruel, is then sprinkled in whilst the mass 
of powder is at the same time briskly stirred with rods^ 
which causes it to granulate, and produces a very close 
imitation of green tea. Mr. Warrington has stated that 
the colouring matter of lie-tea is a mixture of Prussian-blue 
and turmeric, with a large proportion of fibrous gypsum; 
and that the black lie-tea is covered with earthy plumbago 
or black-lead, having only a sHght lustre. The author has 



122 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



inspected very large quantities of the green sorts^ and can- 
not agree with Mr. Warrington that turmeric is the yellow 
colouring matter employed^ both the smell and taste of that 
drug being so powerful and peculiar that it could not fail 
to be detected, and by its strong flavour would spoil the 
whole qaantity ; besides, there is good reason for beheving 
that mineral yellow colours are exported from this country 
for the purposes of this ingenious adulteration. A very 
slight magnifying power applied to the spurious tea will 
show its heterogeneous composition. 

Formerly, all the tea imported into Europe was exported 
from China ; its culture was however some time since at- 
tempted in Java, Penang, and Eio de Janeiro. After many 
failures it has fully succeeded, and large quantities are now 
raised in the two former places, and its cultivation is extend- 
ing in South America under the Brazilian government. 

In 1807 Dr. J. Forbes Eoyle called the attention of the 
Indian Government to the great probability of the Chinese 
plant succeeding on the base of the Himalayan mountains, 
where a species of tea had already been discovered, which 
was indigenous to the warm moist valleys of those moun- 
tains. He pointed out the similarity of the temperature, 
and other circumstances of that locality, to those in which 



TEA. 123 

the tea was known to be found naturally in the north of 
China. The trial was made with succef^M results; the 
Assam Tea Company was formed^ and with very great care 
large quantities of Chinese seed were procured^ sown^, and 
successfully reared^ so that now the Company have upwards 
of a thousand acres under cultivation in the favourable situ- 
ations occurring in the district stretching from Kemaon to 
the liill tracts acquired from the Seiks. The plants grown 
are chiefly those raised from Chinese seed ; the remainder 
are the indigenous plants, supposed to be a distinct species, 
which has received the name of Thea Assamica, It is a 
much more vigorous-growing plant than that of China, and 
has much larger leaves. Chinese tea-curers have been in- 
duced to settle in Assam, and from each of these plants 
both black and green teas are made by the Chinamen. The 
tea of Assam is of a superior quality, and fetches a high 
price in the market ; being a very strong kind, it answers 
well for mixing with the low sorts of China tea, to bring up 
their quahty, and for this purpose it is chiefly used. Several 
large shipments have now been received from India. 

Tea is imported in chests of a peculiar manufacture, al- 
ways lined wdth thin sheet-lead, and frequently with a pecu- 
liar kind of paper, of Chinese manufacture, made from the 



124 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



lihefy or under bark^ of the Broussonetia joapi/rifera ; it is of 
a silky texture^ straw colour^ and is made without size. The 
total quantity of tea imported into the United Kingdom in 
1851 was 52^640,000 lbs., of the gross value (duty paid) of 
£9,675,000 (Poole's Statistics). The quantity re-exported 
is considerable, and is said to be nearly 2000 tons. 

Although never imported, except as a curiosity, and cer- 
tainly never used in England, we must not omit to mention 
the curious Brick Tea'' of Tibet. It is in blocks shaped 
like bricks, or in coarse fragments of such blocks ; the 
blocks are usually wrapped in paper or sewn up in sheep- 
skins. It is even more objectionable than the lie tea,'^ 
being made of the refuse leaves and sweepings of the tea 
warehouses mixed with bullocks' blood, then made damp 
and pressed into moulds and dried by fire-heat. 

Paeaguay Tea. — The broken leaves and smaller twigs 
of the Paraguay holly. Ilex Paraguay ensis, and probably also 
those of Z. Gongonha and /. theezans, (Nat. Ord. Aqui- 
foliacecB.) 

This production of Brazil, and various other parts of 
South America, is extensively used in those countries as a 
substitute for tea, which it strongly resembles in smell and 
in taste. It has also been proved that theiney the active 



SUBSTITUTES FOR TEA. 



125 



principle of the true tea^ exists also in these species of holly. 
Small parcels of it are frequently imported into England, 
generally under the Brazilian name Mate, or Yerba^, and 
Yerba de Palos. The Mate is of a yellowish- green colour, 
strongly smelling of tea ; the leafy portion is much broken 
up, being almost a coarse dust ] small pieces of the wood 
are plentifully mixed with it, often in pieces an inch and a 
half to two inches in length, and as thick as a quill. That 
which reaches this country is not for commercial purposes, 
but comes as presents. 

Several other plants afford substitutes for tea in different 
countries ; thus — 

In North America, the leaves of a pretty little evergreen 
bush, often seen in our shrubberies, called Prinos glabra 
(Nat. Ord. ArinifoUacecB) is used in the Northern States. 
It is sometimes called Apalachian Tea. 

In New Jersey, one of the United States, the leaves of 
Ceanothus Americanus (Nat. Ord. B/iamnacece) are dried and 
used under the name of New Jersey Tea. This tea-plant 
is not an evergreen, like the preceding ones, but forms a 
handsome bush, with elegant clusters of light-blue flowers. 

In China the poorer classes use the leaves of another plant 
of the same Natural Order — Sageretia theezans. 



136 



POPULxVR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



In Bencoleen the Malays use the leaves of a plant be- 
longing to the Natural Order Myrtacea, named GlapJiT/ria 
nitida, which they call Kayo Umur Panjang/* or the Tree 
of Long Life. 

In Japan leaves of Hydrangea Thunhergii (Nat. Ord. 
HydraMgeaceoi) are dried and used as tea, which is so highly 
valued that the Japanese call it Ama-tsja, or the Tea of 
Heaven. 

In Austria, a substitute for tea is sold under the name 
" Brazilian Tea/"* and the genuine article is often much adul- 
terated with the same material ; it consists of the prepared 
leaves of StacliytaT];iJieta Jamaicensis (INTat. Ord. Verhena- 
cea). Another plant of this Natural Order is highly es- 
teemed by the Brazilians as a tea-plant ; they style it Capitao 
do Matto j it is the Lantana pseudo-tJiea, and, from its agree- 
able aromatic qualities, is perhaps the best of all the substi- 
tutes above mentioned. 

The leaves of Ledum latifolium, . called by the natives 
Wischecumpuoware and Wiserpukki, are used in North 
America under the name of Labrador Tea; and the "Moan- 
tain Tea^^ of the same country is the dried leaves of the 
beautiful little partridge-berry ( GauUheria procumhens) ; 
both these plants belong to the Natural Order Mricacece, 



SUBSTITUTES POR TEA. 



127 



The Mexican tea^' of the United States^ less commonly 
used^ is the Chenopodium amhrosioides {Chenopodiacece) ; and 
the Oswego tea''^ is the Monarda Kalmiana (Nat. Ord. 
Lahiatce) of North America. 

In some parts of India the poorer natives use a species 
of Basil, Ocymum album {Lahiatce), under the name of 
Toolsie Tea. 

The inhabitants of Chili use the leaves of Tsoralea glan- 
dulosa (Nat. Ord. Leguminosce), which is also called Para- 
guay Tea, but is wholly unlike the Mate ; and those of 
Myrtus ugni [Myrtacece), 

In Central America the dried flowers of Capraria hifolia 
(Nat. Ord. ScropJiulariacece) are used as tea, and so also 
are the dried leaves of Alstonia ilieaformis {StymcacecB) , 

In New Holland the dried leaves of Leptospermum scopa- 
rium {^Myrtaceae) serve the same purpose. 

In many parts of Prance the cultivation of Micromeria 
Tkea-Sinensis (Nat. Old. Lahiat^e) is carried on for the 
purpose of serving ^s a substitute for tea. 

There are doubtless many other plants used in the same 
manner, but the references to all of them are so scattered 
that much difficulty has been experienced in collecting the 
above list, which it is hoped will prove of interest to the 



128 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



reader; besides tliis^ many more are employed in the sophis- 
tication of the true tea^ amongst which may be mentioned 
the leaves of the Black-thorn [Trumis spinosa) and those 
of the Hawthorn [Cmtmgus Oxyacaniha), 

It will be seen from what we have said of tea^ its imita- 
tions and adulterations^ that the injurious habit of drinking 
warm relaxing fluids has become almost universal. Its 
introduction into Europe is comparatively recent, having 
been first brought in by the Dutch East India Company. 
The first sample reached England in 1666, and sold at the 
high price of sixty shillings per pound, a price which is 
still realized in China for the finest qualities, which however 
rarely reach Europe. Examples of these high-priced teas 
were shown at the Great Industrial Exhibition. The use 
of the Paraguay tea is of ancient origin, and not in imita- 
tion of our use of the Chinese plant ; it was found general 
amongst the natives when the Portuguese conquered Brazil, 
and has become a fashionable beverage amongst the European 
settlers all over the South American continent. 

It must be observed that the value of these preparations 
for dietetic purposes depends, not upon their agreeable 
taste or nutritive qualities, but upon some stimulant pro- 
perty, probably analogous in many of them. Of all the 



COFrEE. 



129 



species above mentioned^ the Brazilian Mate or Yerha is the 
most powerfully stimulant^ produciag a sKght and agreeable 
intoxication^ which when indulged in to excess leads to 
delirium tremens. 

The next article in importance to Tea is 

CoEEEE. — The dried seeds from the berries of Coffea 
Arabica, (Nat. Ord. CinchonacecB.) (Plate 1. fig. 2.) 

Coffee^ the use of which is now almost universal^ was in- 
troduced into England in 1652^ fourteen years earlier than 
the introduction of tea. The following historical account 
of this article is from ^ Woodville^s Medical Botany/ a most 
admirable work : — ^'It was unknown to the ancient Greeks 
and Romans ; the generally received opinion is^ that the use 
of its infusion as a drink originated in Ethiopia. But the 
practice of drinking it in Arabia was introduced from Persia 
by the Mufti of Aden^ in the fifteenth century. In 1554 
its use first began at Constantinople, from whence it was 
gradually adopted in the western parts of Europe. At 
Marseilles it was begun in 1644. At Paris it was nearly 
unknown till the arrival of the Turkish ambassador, Soliman 
Aga, in 1669. In 1672 the first cojffee-house was esta- 
blished in Paris by an Armenian named Pascal, but, meeting 
with little encouragement, he went to London^ where the 

K 



130 



POPULAE ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



beverage had been previously introduced in the year 1652^ 
when Mr. Edwards^ a Turkey merchant^ brought from that 
country a Greek servant^ named Pasqua, who understood 
the method of preparing coffee^ and first sold it in London 
in a house which he kept for that purpose in George Yard, 
Lombard Street/^ 

There are few shrubs more elegantly beautiful than the 
Arabian Coffee. It rises from fifteen to twenty feet in height, 
with slender branches covered with fine light-green, smooth, 
shining, oblong-ovate and acuminate leaves ; the branches 
are rather inclined downwards, giving the w^hole shrub a 
handsome pyramidal figure ; the leaves are oppositely placed 
along the branches, and the flowers appear in the axils of 
the leaves, either one or more in each axil ; the flowers 
are white, and not unlike those of the common jessamine ; 
but the five segments of the tubular corolla are thinner and 
longer. Usually not more than one berry is borne in each 
axil, at the end of a very short peduncle, or stalk, so that 
the berries, like the leaves, appear in pairs : at first they are 
green, and rather smaller than a cherry; they acquire a 
reddish-brown as they ripen, and each berry contains two 
seeds, the enveloping pericarp being rather thick and fleshy, 
and becoming entirely dry as they become perfectly ripe; in 



COFFEE. 



l31 



this state^ under the name of Coffee in the husk/^ it is 
occasionally imported. 

When freed from the husk, the coffee-seeds, or berries, as 
they are commonly called, are hard and horny, somewhat 
resembling the texture of parchment ; in the fresh samples 
from the West Indies they are of a pale-green colour, but 
in the Mochas, and other Asiatic varieties, they are of a yel- 
lowish stone-colour, which is acquired by age, to which pro- 
bably much of their superior quality is also referable. These 
berries are principally composed of a mass of albumen, 
which is rolled up, and encloses the small cotyledons and 
embryo ; they are convex on the outer side, and flat on the 
inner side, with a deep groove at the folding in of the albu- 
minous coating; the two seeds lie within the pericarp, with 
their flat surfaces applied to each other. 

The Coffee shrub is now cultivated in almost every tro- 
pical country; we receive it from the East and West Indies 
and South America. It is usually grown in plantations, and 
hand-gathered or shaken from the trees when ripe. Latterly 
the plantations in Ceylon have been infested with a species 
of Coccus (called the brown-scale), an insect allied to that 
which infests our pear-trees, to the cochineal-insect, and to 
the well-known lady-bird fly. 



132 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



The coffee-berry is always prepared for use by roasting ; 
in this state it is not only more agreeable^ but its peculiar 
power of stimulating the nervous system is increased. This 
property has long been supposed to reside in a peculiar 
substance which has been separated both from the berries 
and the leaves of the plants^ and until lately was described 
as a peculiar principle^ under the name of Caffeine ; it is 
now however believed to be identical with the Theine of tea- 
leaves. Dr. Gardner has recommended the coffee-leaf as a 
substitute for that of the tea-plant^ and examples of leaves, 
prepared for the purpose, were exhibited at the Exhibition 
of 1851 ; but the coffee-bush would receive too much injury 
from the loss of its leaves to make it desirable to carry out 
this proposition. The quantity of coffee imported is enor- 
mous : the total amount imported in 1850 was estimated at 
22,000 tons, of the value of £566,822 ; considerable quan- 
tities are again exported to the States of Europe and our 
colonies in Australia. 

Like tea, coffee has been much imitated, and there are 
numerous substitutes and adulterations ; of these, the most 
important is Chicory, a dark-brown powder, made from the 
roasted roots of the Cichorium Intyhus, a handsome com- 
posite plant, indigenous to the temperate parts of Europe. 



SUBSTITUTES POE COPFEE. 



133 



The tap-rootS; which are large^ are sliced and dried in kilns ; 
they are then roasted in a manner similar to coffee^ and re- 
duced to powder ; this^ added to coffee in small quantities^ 
is considered by many persons to improve the latter^ and 
until lately its admixture was permitted by the Legisla- 
ture^ but is now prohibited. The adulteration can easily be 
detected^ owing to the fact that roasted coffee imparts its 
colour only very slightly to cold water^ but chicory colours 
it a deep reddish-brown; besides which^ the latter sinks 
readily, but coffee will not, without difficulty and long 
soaking. 

In the Turkish Collection of Raw Produce at the Great 
Exhibition, a curious seed was shown under the name of 
^^Kenguel/^ from Kaissarieh, which in that country is 
roasted and used as coffee. There were two varieties shown : 
they were the seeds of a species of Gumillea (Nat. Ord. 
Cunoniacem) . 

The following are also used, either as substitutes or as 
sophistications for coffee : — Dandelion Eoot {Leontodon Ta- 
mxacum), prepared as chicory. Eye. Chick-peas {Cicer 
arietinum). Broom-seeds {Spartium Scoparium: Nat. Ord. 
Leguminosce) , The seeds of the Yellow Water Iris [Iris 
Pseudacorus : Nat. Ord, Iridacece) ; and the common Horse 



134 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



Bean. Many other seeds are roasted and used for one or 
. both of the above purposes. 

CocoA^ CocAO^ or Cacao. — The seeds of a small tree in- 
digenous to the West Indies and tropical America^ Theo- 
broma Cacao, (Nat. Ord. Byttneriacece.) (Plate I. fig. 3.) 

The seeds of the Theobroma are borne in a large oval 
capsule^ rather pointed at each end ; when ripe^ the capsule 
is about four inches in length and two inches in diameter at 
the middle ; the seeds are in the middle of the capsule, en- 
closed in a pulp, and closely packed round a central pla- 
centa, so that when the capsule is removed, the cluster of 
seeds resembles a short col of Indian corn. They contain 
large quantities of a peculiar solid oil called the butter of 
Cacao." Some qualities of the seed are possessed of consi- 
derable acridity, which is removed by burying the seeds for 
thirty or forty days ; this however induces mouldiness. 

The tree is ornamental, having fine dark-green shining 
leaves, with a wavy surface j and clusters of small white 
flowers. Prom the seeds, both chocolate and cacao, or cocoa, 
are manufactured. Por the former, the seeds are freed from 
the husk, roasted and ground, and then mixed with sugar, 
and flavoured with vanilla, sassafras nuts, or some other aro- 
matics. Cocoa is manufactured by grinding up the nut§ 



SUGAE. 



135 



without shelling them^ a quantity of suet being added during 
the process of grinding. 

Amongst the poorer classes in Italy and Ireland a drink 
is prepared from the husks which are separated in making 
chocolate. These husks are largely imported from Trieste 
and other Italian ports under the name of Miserable.''^ 
It is said that the beverage prepared from this is very 
wholesome and agreeable. Both chocolate and cocoa are 
very much adulterated with wheaten and potato flour^ etc. 
The quantity imported in 1851 (chiefly from Brazil^ Guaya- 
quil^ and Trinidad) was about 2000 tons^ of which only 
about 580 tons were re-exported. {Poole's Statistics,) 

SuGAE. — The saccharine matter from the juice of the 
Sugar-cane^ Sacchamm officinaritm, (Nat. Ord. Gramina- 
eecE.) (Plate I. fig. 5.) The Sugar of China^ of which 
small quantities have reached this country^ is supposed to 
be from S, Sinense, a distinct species.. 

That the Sugar-cane was known to the ancients is most 
certain, as various of the writers of antiquity refer to it. 
Dr. Pereira, in his elaborate and invaluable work on ' Materia 
Medica and Therapeutics/ gives the following interesting 
historical account of Sugar : — " The manufacture of sugar 
is said by Humboldt to be of the highest antiquity in China. 



136 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



Cane-sugar was known to the ancient Greeks and Eomans, 
and was considered by them to be a species of honey. Possibly 
Herodotus refers to it when he says that the Zygantes make 
honey in addition to that which they get from bees. Theo- 
phrastus calls it mel in arundinihus (honey in reeds) ; Dios- 
corides terms it adicxapov {saccharo7i) ; Pliny^ saccharum. 
Humboldt adopts, too hastily, I think, the opinion of Sal- 
masius, that the latter writers meant the silicious product 
of the bamboo, viz. Tahasheer; for, in the first place, as 
they arrange it with honey, it was probably sweet, which 
tabasheer is not ; secondly, the Sanscrit name for sugar is 
sarhira; thirdly, a passage in Lucan (lib. iii. v. 237) seems 
distinctly to refer to the sugar-cane : ' Quique bibunt tenera 
dulces ab arundine succos.'' Surely no one will pretend 
that the |3amboo is tenera amnio (slender reed)."'"' 

All we know of the origin of the sugar-cane is, that it was 
first known in Asia, and that it has not been found wild in 
any other part of the world; its cultivation has however 
spread from the Old World to the American continent and 
islands, where it now forms perhaps the most important 
vegetable product. 

The sugar-cane is a gigantic grass, growing from six to 
twelve feet high ; it is solid, being filled with pith and sac- 



STJGAE. 



137 



charine juice, and jointed at very short intervals ; the pa- 
nicle, or flower-head, is large, often more than two feet long, 
elegant and feathery, from the flowers being surrounded 
with fine long reddish-coloured hairs, whilst the scales of 
the flower are of a pale rose-colour. The art of the culti- 
vator has originated numerous varieties. 

The sugar-cane is a perennial plant, and when ripe is 
cut down ; the canes are then taken to the mills, where they 
are subjected to great pressure between iron rollers, by which 
the cane-juice is separated; it is then mixed with lime and 
boiled; by this process it is clarified; thence it is passed 
through a succession of boilers, and the water is removed 
by evaporation. When the sugar begins to assume its ordi- 
nary granular appearance, it is placed in a large shallow 
vessel, called a cooler, to crystallize. Here the pecuhar pro- 
cess called claying takes place : a stratum of clay, moistened 
with water, is laid on the top, and as the water gradually 
filters through the mass of sugar, it carries with it much of 
the molasses which discolours it. The process of claying 
is said to have been discovered by accident : a hen, with 
muddy feet, having walked over a cooler full of sugar, 
it was noticed that where the clay from her feet had re- 
mained, the sugar beneath it was much hghter-coloured. If 



138 



POPULAU ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



the molasses is merely separated by draining, the sugar is 
then termed Muscovado. 

Lately a mechanical process for cleaning sugar from the 
molasses has been invented and patented by Mr. Leonard 
Hardman, of Liverpool, and others. It consists of an iron 
cylinder, pierced all over with small perforations ; the sugar 
to be cleaned is put into this cylinder, vs^hich is made to re- 
volve with great velocity ; in the axis of the cylinder is a 
passage by which atmospheric air is drawn in, and passes 
with great force through the sugar, carrying out with it the 
molasses, which flies through the perforations ; the whole 
being enclosed in an iron chamber, the molasses falls to the 
bottom, and drains off through a proper channel into a re- 
ceiver : by this process the darkest sugar is rendered as dry 
and light-coloured as the finest clayed sugar. The refining 
of sugar is a process by which the remaining treacle and 
colouring matter is entirely removed, the bleaching being 
effected chiefly by the agency of animal charcoal and im- 
proved crystallization, by successive boilings and slow cool- 
ing at a regulated temperature. 

Raw sugar is imported from the West Indies in large 
casks called hogsheads, in smaller ones called tierces, and in 
barrels; from the East Indies in bags, chiefly made of jute- 



SUGAR. 



139 



hemp^ and called gunny-bags; from Havannah in large 
boxes; from Manilla in calico bags; from the Mauritius 
in mat bags ; and from the Brazils in very large boxes or 
chests. The quanity imported in 1851 was 314^301 tons : 
of this enormous quantity 305^616 tons were consumed as 
raw sugar^ 17^769 tons were refined^ and 23^047 were ex- 
ported to other countries. 

Molasses, Melasses, or Treacle, is the uncrystallizable 
portion of the cane-juice, which, in the processes detailed 
above, drains out, and is used in various ways, especially for 
sweetening the food of the poorer classes. The quantity 
imported in 1851 was 42,252 tons. 

Eum is distilled from the refuse canes after aU the sac- 
charine juice has been expressed by the mills ; they are first 
fermented and then distilled. Of this spirit 4,194,683 
gallons were imported in 1851. 

Besides the sugar-cane, many other plants yield sugar; the 
principal of these are — 

1. The Beet-root and Mangold Wurzel, or Mangel 
Wurtzel, two varieties of Beta vulgaris (Nat. Ord. CJienopo- 
diacem), which are cultivated very largely on the continent 
of Europe, especially in Prance, where a great portion of 
the supply of sugar is from the juice of these large succulent 
roots. 



140 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



2. The Sugar Maple — Acer saccJiannum (Nat. Ord. Ace- 
racece), and probably other species of Maple. — From the 
juice of these trees, which runs out of incisions made in 
the stem, large quantities of a coarse uncrystallizable sugar 
is manufactured in North America. The Maple sugar is a 
domestic manufacture, and is only used in the country dis- 
tricts. The Indians of Canada make and sell it to the colo- 
nists, often packed in very elegant little baskets, made of 
bark, and embroidered with small quills of the North Ame- 
rican porcupine [Hystrix dorsata. Linn.), dyed in various 
bright colours. 

3. The Date {Phcenix dactylifera). — Prom this useful 
palm, and also from P. sylvestris, the wild date and Sa- 
guerus (Arenga) saccJiarifer (Plate IX. fig. 46), very much 
sugar is produced, by boiling the juice, which flows in im- 
mense quantities from incisions made in the spadices, or 
flower-heads ; from P. sylvestris alone as much as 60,000 
tons are made. These sugars are mostly consumed in 
India ; much however is supposed to reach this country as 
cane-sugar. 

Sugar has also been manufactured extensively from potato- 
starch, for the purpose of mixing with cane-sugar, but the 
manufacture is illegal in this country. 



CAPEES. 



141 



Capees. — The unexpanded flowers of Cajjparis sjpinom^ 
a native of the southern and eastern parts of Europe. 
(Nat. Ord. Cappandace6e.) 

The Caper is a handsome shrub^ with a trailing habit^ 
deHghting in rocky situations^ and particularly in the debris 
of old walls. The leaves are ovate and deciduous^ with 
curious small hooked stipules. The flowers are produced 
singly on small stalks arising from the axils of the leaves ; 
when expanded^ they have four petals, of a delicate pinkish- 
white colour ; the stamens are numerous, and much longer 
than the petals, having the appearance of an elegant tassel. 

The caper-plant is largely cultivated in Italy and France, 
especially in the neighbourhood of Marseilles and Toulon, 
but the chief supply to this country is from Sicily. As the 
plant continues flowering for six months, the caper-harvest 
continues through the whole of that period. The buds are 
gathered whilst very young, and thrown into casks contain- 
ing vinegar and salt. When the gathering season is over, 
they are all sorted by hand according to their different sizes : 
the smallest, being the best, are called nonpareils; the se- 
cond quality receive the name of capucines ; both these are 
usually put into bottles, but those remaining after the selec- 
tion are put in small barrels and sold at a low price. 



142 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



The caper has been long used as a valuable and much 
esteemed pickle ; but the date of its introduction is not sa- 
tisfactorily known. In Italy it is called Caprioli, or Capero, 
in Prance^ Cajorier, whence our name Caper ; the Germans 
call it Kapernstraiicli, Mr. Poole gives about 40 tons as 
the annual imports. 

SoY Bean. — The pods of Soja hispida, (Nat. Ord. Le- 
guminoscB,) ' 

These pods are very rarely imported^ but the sauce made 
from them is sent from India in large quantities^ and is much 
esteemed. The sauce^ or catsup {hitjapy Chinese)^ is called 
Soy^ and is a thick black liquid^ resembling treacle^ but not 
so tenacious. About 500 or 600 gallons are annually 
received. 

Okea^ Okro^ or Gombo. — The seed-vessels of Ahelmoschus 
esculentus, or Hibiscus esculentus, (INTat. Ord. Malvacea,) 

The Okra is an annual plants a native of the East Indies^ 
but has spread over a great part of the world. In the West 
Indies and in North ifmerica it is highly prized ; in Turkey 
and Greece it is extensively used^ under the name of Bamia ; 
in India it is known under the names of Gobbio and Ban- 
dikai ; and it is now much cultivated in Prance and other 
parts of Europe as a garden vegetable. Only the very young 



THE ONION. 



143 



seed-pods are used ; they contain an abundance of nutritive 
mucilage^ which they communicate to soups in which they 
are boiled; they are used in various other ways^ and are 
often eaten stewed with butter and spice. The pods, when 
dried carefully^ retain their mucilaginous property for a long 
time, and in this state they are occasionally imported, 
threaded like beads, from Turkey and Greece. There is 
every reason to believe they may be easily grown in this 
countrv. 

The pods are about an inch in length, of a conical shape, 
and covered with a golden-yellow hair, or pile, in the dry state; 
there are however several varieties, probably differing only 
in the age of the pods ; they are only brought to this country 
as presents, chiefly for the Greek and Turkish merchants. 

The Onion. Allium cepa, (Nat. Ord. Liliacece.) 

This esculent root has been known from the earliest times. 
Thus in the Bible we read, ^'We remember the fish which 
we did eat in Egypt freely ; the cucumbers, and the melons, 
and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick,^^ Numbers xi. 5. 
It is a native of Egypt. Miiller, in his ^ Physiology of Plants,^ 
mentions that an onion taken from the hand of an Egyptian 
mummy, perhaps two thousand years old, has been made to 
grow. Mummy onions are however liable to the same sus- 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



picion as mummy-wlieat, and^ we doubt not^ even philoso- 
phers have been imposed upon. The Onion now forms an 
important article of commerce; about 700 or 800 tons 
are annually imported in chests and boxes from Spain 
and PortugaL 

Gaelic. Allium sativum, (Nat. Ord. Liliacece.) 

Though much less used than the last,, the Garlic is as 
ancient a vegetable as the onion. A few hundredweights 
are brought by the Spaniards, by whom this root is more 
used than by any modern nation. 

The Hop. Humulus Lupulus. (Nat. Ord. Cannahinace{B,) 

This well-known vegetable product, with two or three 
others, we have been compelled to place at the end of this 
chapter, as they will not come under any of the other divi- 
sions of onr subject. It is indigenous both to this country 
and many other parts of Europe, and there are perhaps 
few plants in our hedge-rows more worthy of admiration ; 
its very handsome foliage, resembling that of the vine, and 
its rapid growth and twining habit, spreading over the 
bushes and ornamenting them with its fine leaves and sin- 
gular clusters of flowers, make it one of our most beautiful 
native plants. But, handsome as the hop-plant is in a 
state of nature, it is far more beautiful when cultivated ; 



TEUFFLES. 



145 



and those who have seen the hop-gardens of Kent^ Surrey, 
Worcester^ and Hereford, will be wilHng to confess that on 
growing crop has superior claims to our admiration. Under 
cultivation the hop is most luxuriant, and its clusters of 
strobiles, or female flowers, are more than quadrupled in 
size. When the seeds are ripe, the strobiles are gathered, 
dried, and packed in bags called pockets, and sent to the 
market. A few hundred pockets have been sent from the 
United States, but have not suited the English market. 
The quantity of hops raised in England is perhaps greater 
than all the rest of the world put together : in 1850 21,668 
tons were cultivated and gathered; they occupied 43,127 
acres, which paid to the revenue, as duty, an average of 
£6. 4^. Qid, per acre. The quantity imported was 320 tons, 
from the United States, Belgium, and Erance; and the 
quantity exported was 98 tons, sent to the United States, 
Austraha, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Cape of Good Hope, 
and Eussia. 

Teuffles. Tuber cibanum, (Nat. Ord. Ftmgi.) 

These curious fungi are produced entirely underground, 
chiefly in beech-woods ; they appear to thrive best in the 
neighbourhood of beech-trees. Besides the one mentioned, 
there are several others, as 1\ (Bstivumj 1\ hrumale, T, mela- 



146 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



nosporuMy T. griseum, T, moschatmij and T, rufum, all of 
which are highly prized for their delicate flavour, which is 
employed in sauces and soups. Dogs are trained to scent 
them out. We receive them from France and Italy pre- 
served in oil, and many are found in England, particularly 
in the neighbourhood of Salisbury Plain. The imports are 
small, and the value very high. 

MoEELL. Morchella esculenta, (Nat. Ord. Fungi,) 
Another much-esteemed fungus, found growing in woods 
and orchards, and on banks under shady hedgerows. They 
are imported from Italy in a dry state, and are principally 
used for soups. 

We now close the series of food-products ; but it must 
not be supposed that we have exhausted the boundless pro- 
fusion of nature. In order to keep the subject witliin the 
limits of a popular work like the present, it was necessary 
to confine ourselves to a selection, and we have chosen those 
vegetable prodjictions which constitute, not only the food, 
but also the foreign commerce of our country ; in doing so, 
we think most of our readers will acknowledge that man is 
largely indebted to the Giver of all good things."*^ 



147 



DIVISION II. 
PEODUCTS EMPLOYED IN MANUFACTUEES. 

CHAPTER VII. 

VEGETABLES USED FOE TEXTILE FABRICS. 

Next to food, we are most indebted to the Vegetable 
Kingdom for clothing, and from the fibres of plants all 
but the most barbarous tribes of the earth partly derive 
the means of covering themselves. How the discovery was 
first made of the means of obtaining and weaving vegetable 
fibres we know not; but it is by no means improbable that man 
first learned this useful lesson from watching the instinctive 
labours of various animals ; thus, in many birds^ nests he 
would see the process of weaving, and in the nests of wasps 
and many other insects the manufacture of paper is clearly 



148 



POPULAE ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



pointed out. Many passages in the Book of Genesis would 
lead us to infer that the coats of skins " which God made 
for our first parents were soon exchanged for other raiment^ 
and the dwellers in tents appear to have been too nume- 
rous for their dwellings to have been made of the skins of 
animals. The first vegetable fibre expressly mentioned is — 

Flax. Linum nsitaiissimum, (Nat. Ord. Linacece,) 
(Plate YII. fig. 33.) 

Max is thus alluded to in Genesis xli. 42 : And Pharaoh 
took off his ring from his hand^ and put it upon Joseph^s 
hand^ and arrayed him in vestures ol fine linen!^ After 
this^ the mention of linen and flax is frequent and unequi- 
vocal. It would also appear that Egypt was the native 
country of flax^ or that at least its cultivation in that country 
reached a degree of perfection for which it has been cele- 
brated up to the present time. Solomon purchased linen 
yarn in Egypt (2 Chronicles i. 16), and Herodotus men- 
tions that Egypt was the great emporium of the flax trade. 
In support of these assertions, the microscope has satisfac- 
torily proved that the cere-clotli in which the ancient mum- 
mies are rolled consists of the fibre of flax. It was even 
used in the manufacture of armour, for Herodotus speaks 
of a curiously-wrought linen corselet, preserved in the 



PLAX. 



149 



Temple of Minerva at Lindus in Eliodes^ which had be- 
longed to the Egyptian king Amassis^ 600 years b, c. ; and 
in Pliny^s time some mutilated remains of this same corselet 
were still in existence. 

The flax-plant is extremely slender^ growing about two 
feet in height^ with a single stem crowned by a loose corymb 
of elegant hght-blue flowers ; it is cultivated in fields^ and 
sown very thickly if a fine fibre is required^ but more spar- 
ingly for coarser qualities. It has a remarkable range of 
temperature^ tliriving from the fields of Northern Europe 
to the plains of Tropical India. 

The flax-crop is gathered by hand^ the plants being pulled 
up by the roots and collected into bundles ; this takes place 
usually after the flowering is just over^ unless it is required 
to save both seed and fibre, when they are obliged to remain 
until the seed is ripe. The bundles are tied up and left in 
the field for twelve or fourteen days to dry; it is then car- 
ried to a pool of water properly arranged for the purpose ) 
here it is steeped until the skin and mucilaginous parts are 
decomposed, and the tough fibres are set free ; this process, 
called water-retting, usually occupies ten or twelve days. 
When taken out of the water, the fiax is laid upon the grass 
of the bleaching-field for another ten or twelve days ; by this 



150 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



operation its colour is much improved^ it becomes dry, and 
is then ready for the scutching or bruising-mill, where it is 
beaten, to complete the separation of the fibres, which are 
then drawn through the heckling or combing apparatus; 
this combs out the flax and renders it fit for the manu- 
facturer. 

Other methods have been devised for rendering flax fit for 
use in less time ; thus, about twenty-five years since. Parlia- 
ment granted a secret or unenrolled patent to Mr. Lee for a 
method of steeping in hot water and softsoap, by which the 
fibre was said to be separated in the very short space of two 
or three hours ; a process, lately brought into use, invented 
by M. Schenck, in which hot water is used for steeping, 
prepares the fibre in sixty hours; and a very ingenious 
method, invented by the Chevalier Claussen, by which the 
flax-fibre is reduced to the condition of cotton- wool, both in 
colour and fineness and in shortness of fibre. It is said 
that this patent process consists in soaking the flax in a hot 
solution of carbonate of soda, and afterwards dipping it in a 
weak acid solution; the disengagement of carbonic acid 
which takes place all through the texture of the flax breaks 
the fibrous tissue into its most minute divisions, in which 
state it is the flax-cotton. This article is* said to work up 



HEMP. 



151 



well with cotton machinery^ and to have^ when manufac- 
tured^ a finer and stronger texture. 

Flax is largely cultivated in the United Kingdom, espe- 
cially in Ireland, where it constitutes one of the staple pro- 
ductions. In 1850 the extent of land under flax cultivation 
in Great Britain and Ireland was computed at 120,000 acres ; 
the produce is very variable, ranging from three to ten hun- 
dredweights per acre ; taking the mean of these quantities, 
the produce would be about 36,000 tons. Besides this, we 
received from abroad 90,339 tons, chiefly from Holland, 
Belgium, Italy, Eussia, Egypt, and Turkey. 

The rough and broken flbres which are detached from the 
skein during the process of heckling form the article called 
Codilla or Tow, which is much used by surgeons and in 
various pharmaceutical operations. 

The seed of flax, or Linseed, will be mentioned in the 
chapter on oils. 

Hemp. Cannabis sativa, (ISTat. Ord. CannahinacecB.) 
(Plate YII. fig. 34.) 

This is a plant of great antiquity; Herodotus, 2500 
years ago, spoke of its cultivation by the Scythians, who, 
he said, made garments of it as fine as flax-linen. Its use 
had become so general amongst the Romans in the time of 



152 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



Pliny^ that they commonly made ropes and cordage of it. 
In his ^ Illustrations of the Botany of the Himalaya Moun- 
tains/ Dr. Eoyle suggests that the V7}irev6rj<^ (IN^epenthes), 
^^assuager of grief/^ of Homer^ was the hemp-plant^ the 
narcotic power of which was known to the Scythians, for 
Herodotus also states that they excited themselves to shouts 
of exultation by inhaling its vapour. In reference to this 
property, it is also known in India as the increaser of plea- 
sure/^ the "exciter of desire/^ the "cementer of friend- 
ship/^ the "causer of the reeling gait/'' the "laughter- 
mover/^ etc. Our English word hemj:) appears to be derived 
from Jiennijo, a name applied in India to one of the nume- 
rous substitutes for hemp. 

The native country of the hemp is not known, but most 
probably it is some part of India. Like the flax, it has a 
most extraordinary power of adapting itself to climate, its 
range of cultivation extending from the northern parts of 
Eussia to the tropical plains of India ; it thrives admirably 
in Europe and North America and also throughout the 
whole of Africa. One remarkable characteristic of the 
hemp-plant when growing in tropical countries is that the 
value of the fibre is much diminished, but another quality 
is developed — it becomes powerfully narcotic, and exudes 



HEMP. 



153 



a peculiar resinous matter from its leaves^ flowers, and the 
smaller stems. This product, called CJmrmSj is collected in 
Central India by men clad in leathern aprons, who rush 
backwards and forwards through the hemp-fields, knocking 
the plants about violently ; by this means the soft resin ad- 
heres to the leather, from which it is scraped off. A finer 
variety, called Momeea, is collected by hand in Nipal ; it is 
also termed Waxen Churrus, and fetches a very high price. 
According to Dr. O^Shaughnessy, the Churrus has most 
remarkable intoxicating effects ; in his work ' On the pre- 
paration of the Indian Hemp, or Gunjah,^ he says that, in 
moderation, it produces increase of appetite and great mental 
cheerfulness ; in excess it causes a peculiar kind of delirium 
and catalepsy. One of the cases mentioned by him is most 
remarkable, and would seem to account for some of the won- 
derful feats of the FaJceers and other religious devotees of 
India : — At tv/o p.m. a grain of the resin of hemp was given 
to a rheumatic patient ; at four p.m. he was very talkative, 
sang, called loudly for an extra supply of food, and declared 
himself in perfect health ; at six p.m. he was asleep ; at eight 
P.M. he was found insensible, but breathing with perfect 
regularity, his pulse and skin natural, and the pupils freely 
contractile on the approach of light. Happening by chance 



154 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



to lift up the patient^s arm, tlie professional reader will judge 
of my astonishment^ when I found it remained in the pos- 
ture in which I placed it. It required but a very brief exami- 
nation of the limbs to find that the patient had, by the influ- 
ence of this narcotic, been thrown into that strange and most 
extraordinary of all nervous conditions — into that state 
which so few have seen, and the existence of which so many 
still discredit — the genuine catalepsy of the nosologist. We 
raised him to a sitting posture, and placed his arms and 
limbs in every imaginable attitude. A waxen figure could 
not be more pliant or more stationary in each position, no 
m^atter how contrary to the natural influence of gravity on 
the part ; to all impressions he was meanwhile almost insen- 
sible.^^ This extraordinary influence was produced upon 
other animals as well as man; after a time it passes off 
entirely, leaving the patient perfectly uninjured by it. 

Owing to this peculiar property in hemp grown in tropical 
countries, it has been thought by many botanists that the 
narcotic hemp was a distinct species, which they called 
Cannahis Indica; this is now known to be an error, though 
probably it is a distinct variety. 

In India, besides the cJiurruSj the herb is dried for 
smoking under the following names: — Gunjah, the dried 



HEMP. 



155 



hemp-plant after it has flowered, and from which the churrus 
has not been removed, and Bang, Subjee, or Sidhee, the 
larger leaves and capsules dried without the stalks. 

When the Bushmen, or Bosjesmans, of Southern Africa 
were in England, they smoked Gunjah in pipes which were 
formed of the tusk or canine tooth of some animal ; it w^as 
about three inches long, and perforated quite through, 
leaving only the enamel ; this rude pipe they stuffed full of 
the dried hemp, and smoked it as more civilized men do 
cigars. In many parts of Asia the use of narcotic hemp has 
long been known . The Saracens called it Hashash and 
Husheesh. In the wars with the Crusaders men were intox- 
icated with this drug, and rushed into the camps of the 
Christians, committing great havoc ; being totally regardless 
of death, they were termed Hashasheens, whence our word 
assassin. 

The hemp grows as high as six to twelve feet, slightly 
branched, with a coarse fohage ; it is closely aUied to the hop 
and the nettle, both of which are possessed of the tough fibrous 
qualities of this plant. The plants are monceciouSj that is, they 
have their stamens and pistils in separate flowers on the 
same plant ; the flowers are small, yellowish-green, and incon- 
spicuous \ the seed is produced in great abundance, and is 



156 



FOPULAE ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



useful for feeding small birds^ and for the oil which it yields 
by expression. The mode of preparing the fibre is very si- 
milar to that described under Plax^ but the fibre produced is 
much longer and coarser. Some of the fine Italian Garden 
Hemp is eight or nine feet long, and of a very fine quality ; 
it is used chiefly for sail-cloths, sacking, and cordage. We 
receive the bulk of that which is consumed in this country 
from Russia, in which country and in Poland its culture has 
been brought to great perfection. Inferior kinds are also 
brought from North America and India. From Italy we re- 
ceive the remarkably fine variety raised by spade culture and 
called Italian Garden Hemp/^ only small quantities of 
this sort arrive. The imports of 1851 were 52,452 tons, 
of which at least 45,000 tons were from Eussia. 

The ^varieties found in the markets are — 

Polish Eyne Hemp; Petersburg Clean, Half-clean, and 
Outshot Hemp ; White Crown Marienburg, Bengal, Ameri- 
can, and Italian Garden Hemp. 

Large quantitities are also cultivated in various parts of 
England. 

Jute. Corchorus capsularis, (Nat. Ord. Tiliacece^)^ (Plate 
VII. fig. 35.) 

The fibre of this plant has of late years become so gene- 



JUTE. 



157 



rally used^ that it now rivals flax and hemp in its import- 
ance as a commercial product. The Jute plant is a native 
of the warmer parts of India^ where its cultivation is car- 
ried on^ especially in Bengal^ to an immense extent. It is an 
annual plants growing from twelve to fourteen feet in height. 
The valuable fibre is contained in the bark^ a striking cha- 
racteristic of the plants of this Natural Order. The flowers 
somewhat resemble those of the common Lime or Linden- 
tree; they proceed from the stem in bunches of two or 
three on very short pedicels^ and are succeeded by a capsular 
seed-vessel of a subglobose figure and rough fluted sides. 
The leaves are about four inches in length when full-grown^ 
oblong-pointed^ and serrated at the edges ; the two lowest 
serratures near the petiole being curiously extended into 
two long pointed appendages. Short branches are pro- 
duced from the axils of the leaves. 

Jute^ or Jute-hemp as it is usually called^ is generally 
about eight feet in length ; the fibre is fine and has a re- 
markable satiny lustre ; it will not stand wet well^ hence 
it is not well adapted for cordage or canvas^ which has to 
withstand exposure to weather. In India it is chiefly used 
for making coarse canvas called gunny, of which bags and 
bales are made for packing other raw produce. In England 



158 



POPIJLAE ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



its use is more extensive. Notwithstanding its unfitness it is 
often mixed with hemp for cordage ; it is even mixed with 
silk in the manufacture of cheap satins^ in which it almost 
defies detection. Its principal use is in making coarse 
cloth for baggings and in making the foundation of inferior 
carpets, mats, etc. The quantity imported in 1851 was 
over 21,000 tons. 

Sun, Shunum, Taag, or Bengal Hemp. — The fibre of 
Crotalaria juncea, (Nat. Ord. Leguminosce.) (Plate VII. 
fig. 36.) 

Another Indian plant, yielding a valuable substitute for 
hemp, coarser in quality than the last, but capable of with- 
standing exposure to wet much better. It is an annual, 
and in growth resembles our common Broom ; its flowers, 
which are yellow, also resemble those of Broom. It grows 
from four to eight feet in height. The quantity imported 
is not very great, being only from 200 to 300 tons annually. 

Manilla Hemp, Plantain Pibiie. — The fibres from 
the stem of Musa textilis, (Nat. Ord. Musacece,) (Plate 
VIIL fig. 41.) A finer kind is made from the green 
petioles of the leaves. 

The stems of plants in this Natural Order are made up of 
the united petioles of the leaves, and cannot be regarded as 



MANILLA HEMP. 



159 



true stems. Tbey contain such a remarkable abundance of 
spiral vessels that these can be pulled out by handfuls^ and 
are sold for tinder. Each spiral vessel consists of six or 
seven fibres^ which^ when pulled out^ constitute the Manilla 
Hemp. It is from the finer fibres^ obtained from the petioles 
of the leaves^ that many of the celebrated muslins ' of India 
are made. 

The common Manilla Hemp is a fine round silky-looking 
fibre^ nearly white ; it is used extensively in making cordage^ 
for which purpose it is admirably adapted. About 2000 
tons are annually imported. The celebrated Manilla scarfs, 
handkerchiefs, and the superior muslins, w^hich rank so 
high amongst the oriental textile fabrics, are manufactured 
from the finest selected fibres, which are of great length and 
strength; and they are as fine and round as hair. The 
Manilla hemp imported into England consists only of the 
coarser plantain- fibre, which is used almost exclusively in 
the manufacture of cordage for ships, and is highly valued 
for its great strength and capabilities of withstanding the 
wxather. The quantity imported is about 8000 tons per 
annum ; but the returns for this and several other fibres 
being mixed up with those of Semp" (which commer- 
cially is a very indefinite term), it is impossible to ascertain 



160 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



the quantity with accuracy. Its value is about £5 per ton 
more than the best Eussian hemp. 

Aloe Fibee^ Pita^ or Pite Hemp. Agave A^nericana, 
(Nat. Ord. Amaryllidacecz,) 

A few bales of Pite hemp occasionally reach the English 
markets^ chiefly from St. Domingo; it is an excellent ma- 
terial for cordage, resembling the Manilla more than the 
common hemp. It is made from the leaves of the Agave^ 
or American Aloe as it is commonly called ; in South 
America it is extensively used, particularly in Mexico, where 
paper is also made from it. 

Pine-apple Pibre. — The fibre from the leaves of 
Ananassa sativa and one or more species of Bromelia and 
Tillandsia, (Nat. Ord. Bromeliacece.) 

The leaves of most of the plants of this Natural Order 
contain an abundance of fine strong fibres ; those of the 
the pine-apple were exhibited at the Great Exhibition, and 
some verv fine muslins have been manufactured from them 
in the West Indies and Brazil ; and from a species of 
Bromelia called Graivatlia by the Brazihans excellent cord- 
age is niade. Pine-apple fibre has not yet however become 
an article of British commerce. 

Prom another of the Bromeliacece, named Tillandsia 



COCOA-NUT FIBEE. 



161 



usneoides, a curious article called Spanish Moss, and Barba 
Hisj)anica,\^ occasionally imported and used for the purpose of 
mixing with horsehair in stuffing cushions and other articles 
of furniture, and also for stuffing birds and other animals. 
This fibre is not however procured by the separation of the 
cellular matter of the leaves, in the manner described under 
Flax, but the plant produces these fibres in great abundance 
instead of leaves and roots. It is strictly an epiphyte; that 
is, it grows on the stems or branches of trees, and derives its 
nourishment by absorbing moisture from the atmosphere; 
for this purpose nature has furnished it with ample means, 
for instead of a number of leaves, the absorbent power of 
which would be limited, the fibres are produced in large 
tufts, and when growing are coated with a spongy absorbent 
surface, the peculiar black horsehair -like fibre constituting 
merely the central part for the purpose of strengthening 
these spongy strings, which resemble in their appearance 
the aerial roots of many of the epiphytal Orchidacece, and, 
like them, perform the functions of both leaves and roots. 

Coir, Kyae, or Cocoa-nut Pibee. — Prom the husk of 
the common Cocoa-nut, Cocos micifera, (Nat. Ord. TaU 
mace(2) (Plate IX. fig. 44.) 

This fibre, which is nearly as strong as hemp, and if pos- 

M 



162 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



sible withstands the action of water better^ is produced in 
immense abundance in India and other places ; but it is 
chiefly in the East that it is collected and prepared for the 
purposes of matting and cordage. Its preparation is very 
simple^ consisting of little more than beating the husks to se- 
parate the fibres, which are dry and but loosely held together, 
and afterwards drawing them through a coarse comb or 
heckle, by which the refuse is cleaned out ; it is then spun 
into yarns of different thickness and exported largely to 
Europe, where it is now extensively manufactured into 
valuable ropes, door-mats, and matting. In India it is very 
generally used as cordage for vessels, and for fishing nets ; 
its lightness recommends it especially for the latter purpose. 
Its durability is surprising, and perhaps no vegetable fibre 
will resist so long the injurious action of alternations of 
dryness and moisture. The Coir-fibre is also made into 
scrubbing-brushes, which are more durable than those made 
from bristles, and the husk before the Coir is removed is 
used by the poorer classes as an excellent substitute for 
scrubbing-brushes. The imports of yarn and rope are 
greatly increasing, the quantity imported in 1850 being, 
as nearly as can be ascertained, 10,661 tons, chiefly into 
London and Liverpool, from Ceylon and Bombay. 



CHINA GRASS. 



163 



China Geass. — The fibre prepared from BoeJmieria 
nivea: the Snowy Nettle^ or Urtica nivea of Willdenow. 
(Nat. Ord. Urticace^s,) (Plate YII. fig. 37.) 

The knowledge of the fact that this very superior fibre is 
derived from the above plants is one of the invaluable 
results which have arisen from the establishment of the 
Museum of Economic Botany at Kew^ under the superin- 
tendence of the eminently practical and scientific botanist 
Sir William J. Hooker. 

Until very lately the Chinese were the sole possessors of 
the secret of making their celebrated grass linen ; but the 
plant having been raised in the Eoyal Gardens^ the question 
was set at rest^ and the plant figured^ in ^ Hooker^s Journal 
of Botany/ vol. i. The plant is now cultivated largely in 
various parts of India^ and bids fair to become a most im- 
portant article of commerce. At present our method of 
preparing it is not sufficiently perfect^ but we are making- 
rapid progress in its improvement^ and may hope that grass 
linen^ equal in quality to that of China^ will ere long be as 
cheap and plentiful as that made from the flax. This Boeh- 
meria is a coarse nettle-like plants deriving its specific name 
from the white colour of the under side of the leaves. 

The imports at present have only reached between 300 
and 400 tons per annum. 



164 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



New Zealand Flax. Phormnm tenax. (Nat. Ord. 
LiliacecB,) 

The Phonnium is a coarse-growing plants inhabiting the 
marshy places in New Zealand ; it resembles somewhat the 
common yellow Iris of our ponds in its foliage, which is 
very long and sword-like. The flowers are burne in large 
trusses or corymbs ; they are of a brownish-red colour^ not 
very ornamental. The fibre is extracted from the long 
leaves by dryings maceration, and heckling, as in the in- 
stance of other similar products. Tlie coarser qualities 
make good ropes, and very fine linen is manufactured from 
the finer selected fibres. The quantities imported are at 
present inconsiderable. 

GoMMUTi, or Ejow Pibee. Arenga (Saguerus) saccha- 
rifera. (Nat. Ord. Palmacea.) (Plate IX. fig. 46.) 

This is one those singular productions of the Palm-tribe 
occasioned by the splitting or decay of the leaf-stalks. After 
the leaf has decayed the base of the stalk is left clasping 
the stem; the loose cellular matter of these persistent 
petioles soon decomposes, and leaves the tough fibres be- 
hind, often beautifully arranged exactly as when growing ; 
gradually however they become detached and hang loosely 
about, giving the stem a very ragged appearance. To the 



PIASSAYA. 



165 



natives of the tropics these naturally prepared fibres are in- 
valuable^ furnishing them with materials for canvas^ cordage^ 
and a varity of economic purposes; those of the Arenga 
or Gommuti palm^ supply this material in great abundance 
to the inhabitants of India^ who however keep most of it 
for their own use ; very small quantities only reaching this 
country, where it is not likely to be much used, for, though 
very strong and not liable to injury from wet, the stiffness 
of its fibres prevents its being made into neat cordage, and 
it does not possess much elasticity. 

PiASSAVA, P1A9ABA, Monkey Guass, or Para Grass. 
Attalea fwmfera. (Nat. Ord. Palmace^e.) (Plate YIII. 
fig. 40.) 

This fibre is produced in an exactly similar manner to 
the last, but upon a larger palm. The Attalea is one of 
the most elegant of its graceful tribe. Its stem {caudex^ 
botanically) rises from twenty to thirty feet, as straight as 
an arrow, and tolerably smooth. Prom the top of this rises 
the tuft of pinnated fronds or leaves, which are of great 
length, often nearly twenty feet. Before the decay of the 
petioles, the fibres become detached at the margins of their 
bases ; these fibres are produced in such quantities, hang- 
ing down ten or tv»'elve feet in tufts, that they have caused 



166 



POPULAE, ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



the name of fope-learing {fimifera) to be given to this 
species. The fibres are thick^ often about the size of the 
small green rush. They are remarkably round and not 
very pliable; they are neither woven nor spun in this 
country^ but are much employed in making brushes and 
brooms. The brushes of the street-cleaning machines are 
always made of piassava. Por a long time the Attalea was 
only known by its fruit, the Coquilla-nut, and the names 
Cocos lapidea and LitJiocarptts cocciformis were given to it ; 
but; thanks to the Kew Museum, the question was solved 
in that establishment, and those curious nuts, and the 

Monkey Grass " of Para, were proved to be products of 
the same plant. Since then the trade in piassava has very 
much increased ; it is almost exclusively furnished by the 
provinces of Ceara and Para, in Brazil. About 800 tons 
were imported in 1851. 

There are two or three materials which, though not 
strictly speaking vegetable fibres, for textile fabrics, never- 
theless are so closely allied to that class of vegetable pro- 
ducts that they must be described in this place. 

Bast. — The inner bark of T'dia EurojocEa. (Nat. Ord. 
Tiliacece.) This is the common Lime or Linden-tree of 
our woods and hedgerows; but it is only in Northern 



RATTAN CANES. 



167 



Europe, and more especially Eussia^ that it is used in mak- 
ing the Bast mats. For this purpose the stems have longi- 
tudinal cuts made through their entire lengthy at the proper 
season; the cuts are so made that the whole of the bark 
comes off in long strips. The outer and inner barks 
easily separate, and the latter being dried is the material 
we call ^"^Bast/^ This is then plaited into mats about a 
yard and a half to two yards square, which are most ex- 
tensively used for packing various kinds of goods, and for 
lining the holds of vessels intended to receive corn; they 
are also m.ucli used by gardeners^ nothing better having 
yet been found for the purpose of tying up plants. It is 
computed that the enormous number of 14,000,000 are 
annually imported into Great Britain from the various ports 
of Eussia, but chiefly from Archangel. 

Eattans, Eattan Canes. — Calamus Rotang and various 
other species. (jN'at. Ord. Palmacece.) (Plate YIII. fig. 39.) 

These very singular palms grow in tufts of very long 
slender stems, with the leaves at considerable distances 
apart. They rise amongst the larger trees of the tropical 
forests, over which they throw their immensely long 
stems, giving the appearance of cordage stretched from 
tree to tree. These stems are remarkably flinty on 



168 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



their surface, this silicious covering giving them consi- 
derable hardness and a glossy appearance ; the leaves have 
much of the same flinty character ; they are pinnated^ and 
often terminate in tendrils. C, rudenttim is said to produce 
stems five hundred feet in length, which are much used by 
natives in making ropes of immense strength, which they 
employ in catching elephants, and for other purposes re- 
quiring great strength. C, is another species, pro- 
ducing much smaller stems about twenty feet in height, 
which are used as rattans,, chiefly by the iiatives of India, 
in weaving into wicker-work of various kinds. The use of 
the common rattan in this country is very similar, being 
chiefly used for forming bottoms for chairs ; but its native 
applications are very various. The rattans are imported in 
bundles, each cane being seldom less than twelve or sixteen 
feet in length and once doubled up ; the consumption is 
very great in this country, being estimated at about 75,000 
bundles of 100 canes each, or 7,500,000 canes annually. 

Bulrushes. Scirpns lacudru. (Wat. Ord. C^/mracecB.) 

The tall Club-rush can only claim to be ranked amongst 
vegetable fibres used in textile fabrics from its now rare use 
in weaving mats and chair-bottoms. Its principal con- 
sumption is by the coopers^ w^ho use it to put between the 



BULRUSHES, 



169 



staves of casks intended to hold liquids ; the pithy structure 
of these rushes causing them to swell when moist^ they 
close any interstices between the staves \vhich otherwise are 
not quite water-tight. They consist of a single culm^ or 
stalky rising to the height of six or eight feet^ about half an 
inch in diameter at the base and pointed at the top ; the 
tuft of brown inconspicuous flowers coming out at the side 
of the stalk near the top. It grows in marshy situations 
on the borders of rivers and fresh-water lakes in many parts 
of Northern Europe^ but particularly in the Netherlands. 
Many vessels laden with bulrushes, as they are called, arrive 
in England annually from Holland and Belgium. Owing 
to their lightness^ these vessels do not bring more than 
thirty or forty tons of rushes each voyage ; nevertheless more 
than a thousand tons are annually imported; the returns for 
1850 gave the number of bundles as 40,000, but this was 
greatly below the real number, which could not be correctly 
ascertained. 

Of those vegetable fibres which are of commercial import- 
ance, and belonging strictly to this division of the subject, 
there are one or two which differ from all the preceding 
in their botanical characters, and one of these is more ex- 
tensively used than any of those already described. The 



170 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



vegetable fibres we have noticed are all derived from the 
stems or leaves of the plants yielding them, but the Cotton 
Wool and one or two similar fibres are found in the seed- 
pods of the plants producing them. 

Cotton Wool. — The woolly covering of the seeds of 
several species of Gossi/pnmi. (Nat. Ord. Malvace^E,) 

No history of the cotton-plant has ever yet been pub- 
lished equal to the highly erudite work of Dr. J. Pbrbes 
Eoyle ^ On the Culture and Commerce of Cotton in India 
and elsewhere/ from which source the following historical 
facts are gleaned. The earliest mention of cotton with 
which we are acquainted is found dated 800 years B.C. in 
the Sacred Institutes of Manu, in which it is mentioned so 
repeatedly as to imply that it was in common use at that 
time by the inhabitants of India. Dr. Eoyle says he has 
been informed by Professor Wilson that cotton, and cotton 
cloth are mentioned (in that book) by the Sanscrit names 
Jcurpasa and karpastm, and cotton seeds as hirpas-asthi. 
The common name, hipas, indicating cotton with the seed, 
is no doubt derived from the Sanscrit name, and is in com- 
mon use all over India, and may even be heard occasionally 
in Manchester. In Book ii. p. 44 of Manu, cotton is 
mentioned in a manner to indicate the esteem in which it 



COTTON. 



171 



was held ; for it is said that the sacrificial thread of a 
Brahmin must be made of cotton^ so as to put on over his 
head^ in three strings ; that of a Cshatriya^ of sana (sun- 
hemp) only ; that of a Yaisya^ of woollen thread/^ These 
were probably three orders of Priests — the Brahmins, 
Cshatriyas, and Vaisyas. In Book viii. p. 197 we have 
evidence of the minute attention paid by the Hindoos to 
the mechanical arts, and of the antiquity of the process of 
starching ; for it is directed, — ^ Let a weaver who has re- 
ceived ten palas of cotton-thread, give them back increased 
by eleven of the rice-water, and the like used in weaving ; 
he who does otherwise shall pay a fine of twelve panas/ 

Another passage given by Dr. Eoyle, upon the authority 
of Professor Wilson, would seem to imply that cotton, and 
the process of starching it, were known at a very much 
earlier period than that already alluded to ; it occurs in the 
first book of the ^Eigveda,^ Hymn 105, v. 8, written pro- 
bably fifteen centuries before the Christian era : Cares 
consume me, Satakratu, although thy worshiper, as a rat 
gnaws the weaver^s threads.'''' It is suggested by the emi- 
nent Sanscrit scholar that the threads of the weaver were 
of starched cotton, and that the rats were tempted by the 
starch with wliich the fibres were dressed. 



172 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



The mention made of cotton in the Scriptures ranks next 
in antiquity to those above recorded ; it is however obscure^ 
and woukl not easily be noticed even by the learned reader. 
Dr. Eoyle^s own words will best explain it. In the Book 
of Esther the word karpas occurs in chapter i.^ verse 6^ in 
the account of the hangings in the court of the Persian 
palace at Shushan^ on the occasion of the great feast given 
by Ahasuerus ; where ^ were w^iite^ green, and blue hang- 
ings^ fastened wdth cords of fine linen and purple to silver 
rings and pillars of marble.'' The word corresponding to 
green is in the Hebrew Icarpas, and is rendered in the 
Septuagint and Vulgate by the word carbasinus. It seems 
to mean cotton cloth, or calico, formed into curtains which 
were white and blue. Such may be seen throughout India 
in the present day, but padded with cotton and used as a 
substitute for doors and window-shutters, and known by the 
name of purdahs. The colours are usually either blue and 
white, or red and white. They may be seen in the Hall of 
Audience of the Emperor of Delhi, which is described by 
Bishop Heber as a ^ beautiful open pavilion of white marble, 
richly carved, flanked by rose-bushes and fountains, and some 
tapestry and striped curtains hanging in festoons about 
it.'' Dr. Royle also with much probability suggests that 



COTTON. 



173 



the curtains found at Nineveh by Dr. Layard, and which 
fell to pieces when touched^ were also of cotton. 

Herodotus describes the celebrated cuirass which the 
King of Egypt Amassis sent to Sparta^, already mentioned 
in the article on Elax^ as adorned ^^with gold and with 
fleeces from trees^ Theophrastus describes the trees from 
which the Indians made cloths^ as ^ having a leaf like that of 
the black mulberry, the whole plant resembling the dog-rose. 
They set them in the plains arranged in rows, so as to look 
like vines at a distance.'^ Nearchus described the natives as 
having garments made with this tree-wool, ^ which reached 
to the middle of the leg, a sheet folded about the shoulders, 
and a turban rolled round the head / a description which 
would apply to many of them in the present day.^^ 

Arrian, a merchant and an author, probably of the second 
century, is the first who describes cotton goods as articles 
of commerce brought by Arab merchants to Aduli, a port on 
the Eed Sea. That cotton clothing was also used by the 
Greeks and Romans is most probable, and was signified by 
the terms Jcarpason in the Greek, and cariasiis or carhaswm 
in the Latin. Mr. Yates, in his work ' Textrinum Anti- 
quorum^ remarkable for its erudition, ch. i., p. 343, states 
that the earliest notice he has found of the word carhasina 



174 



POPULAU ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



is in Statiusj and he infers that cotton cloths of some 
kinds were known to the Greeks as early as 200 years 
before Christ. Perhaps cotton is meant when^ long before 
Schonbein^s discovery^ " Exhibuit vivos carhasus alba focos/^ 
when the vestal virgin, upon the extinction of the flames 
on the altar committed to her care, threw upon the ashes 
a fillet of muslin from her head and saved her hfe by its 
ignition. 

By the Roman authors it was frequently mentioned, 
especially in later times. Thus Cicero speaks of fine tent- 
cloths as carbasea vela/^ and Pliny mentions them as car- 
basina vela.''^ Yirgil speaks of cotton sails for ships, when 
he says Tumidoque inflatur carhasus Austro and it 
would appear that cotton muslins were w^orn as clothing 
in his day, for he says, Tenuis glauco velabat amictu car- 
hasus,'' Similar quotations might be furnished in abundance, 
but we will again return to Dr. Eoyle, and follow him 
through his history of this wonderful material, much of 
which is drawn from the work of Mr. Yates above quoted. 

Gossypium is supposed to be one of the names used to 
designate cotton in the fourth century, and much earlier 
than that it was called Gossympinus by Pliny.''^ Later 
still the name hamhacinuSy made of cotton ; hamhacinum. 



COTTON. 



175 



cotton cloth j hamhacarmSy a dealer in cotton cloth; and 
in Italian hanibagio^ hamhagino, and lamhacinoy (Yates^ 
1. p. 354.) These names were supposed to have origi- 
nated from some misapplication of the names of the silk- 
worm^ homhi/x, and silken^ homhycinus ; whence also with 
equal incorrectness our term homhazinej applied to a woollen 
fabric. 

" From India cotton appears to have spread into China, 
for it does not seem to have been used in the ninth century, 
as the two Arabian travellers who then visited China ob- 
served that the ^Chinese dressed not in cotton as the 
Arabians did, but in silk ] and it is supposed that the 
cotton manufacture was not established there until the 
thirteenth century.''^ From India it also spread into Persia, 
Arabia, Egypt, Central and Western Africa, and Southern 
Europe. 

There is positive proof that it was in use in America at 
a very early period, and consequently that some species are 
indigenous to the New World, for Columbus found it in^ 
the West India Islands. Cortes, in his Conquest of MexiCio, 
is described as receiving garments of cotton among the first 
presents from the natives of Yucatan; also cotton cloths 
to cover his huts ; and from Montezuma, cotton fabrics of 



176 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



fine and silk-like delicacy of texture and it was found 
afterwards to constitute the principal clothing material of 
the Mexicans. Magelhaens found the natives of Brazil 
employed it in stufling their beds. Raw cotton and cotton 
fabrics have also been found in the ancient Peruvian tombs. 
Indigenous cotton-plants have been discovered in the Gala- 
pagos^ the Sandwich Islands^ the Sechelles Islands^ in Java^ 
Borneo, and other Indian Islands^ and in the islands of the 
Chinese coast. 

This remarkable product, the history of which so far has 
been chiefly drawn from the above-mentioned interesting 
work of Dr. Royle, is certainly produced by several species, 
some of which are very distinct, whilst others are less 
easily distinguished. Different botanists have described 
the species of cotton as amounting to about twenty-four in 
number, but many of these are very questionable. The 
following species have been determined by Dr. Eoyle. 

1. Gossypium Indicum, Lam.arck ; G, herhaceum, Lin- 
naeus, (Plate YII. fig. 32.) Native name Kotu Jiindee,— 
Stjem more or less branched, herbaceous, one ant half 
two feet high, in temperate climates ; hard and wood-like 
and bi-triennial, four to six feet high, in its native and other 
warm countries ; flowers bright yellow. Dacca cotton, from 



COTTON. 177 

which the celebrated muslins of that locality are made, is 
one of the varieties of G. Indicum, 

The nankeen-coloured cotton of China and other places 
is only an accidental variety. 

2. G. punctatum, a perennial nearly allied to the last, 
growing naturally upon the banks of the Senegal, and in 
the country between it and Gambia. 

3. G, oUusifolmm, Eoxburgh, shrubby and very branch- 
ing. A native of Ceylon, but not cultivated. 

4. G, arioreum. Stems tree-like, fifteen to twenty feet in 
height, flowers red ; sometimes called G. religiosum ; it is 
called I)eo Kujoas in Mysore, and by the natives of India is 
only used in making turbans for the head, and never for 
lower or under garments, being sacred to the deities. It is 
found in the island of Celebes, in Arabia, Egypt, and in 
India. 

5. (?. Barhadense, A shrubby perennial species, six to 
tw^elve feet in height ; flowTrs yellow. In India it is called 
Bourbon Cotton, and is chiefly cultivated in the islands of 
Bourbon and Mauritius. It is from this species that the 
varieties called Sea Island, Upland, New Orleans, Georgia, 
Florida, Alabama and others were originated. 

6. G. Peruviamim — Brazil Cotton. Mowers large and 

N 



178 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



yellow j plant perennial and tree-like^ from ten to fifteen 
feet in height. It furnishes the cottons of Brazil^ Per- 
nambucOj Bahia^ and Peru. It is remarkable for produ- 
cing its seeds in a curious kidney-shaped clump. Many 
others are mentioned by Dr. Eoyle as not producing com- 
mercial cotton ; but he thinks that more accurate investi- 
gation may reduce all the species to these four : G. Fem- 
vianum (or G. aciiminatum), G, IncUcim (or G. herhaceum), 
G. arboreuMj and G, Barhadensej which are undisputed and 
well defined. 

The cotton-plant is essentially a tropical plant, and admits" 
of only very limited cultivation within the temperate zones. 
It is usually cultivated in fields or plantations, and treated 
as an annual plant, which practice is found to be better 
than allowing it to stand several years. The seed is sown 
in holes, eight or ten in each, a short distance apart, but 
sufficient to allow the growth of the plants, only one of 
which is suffered to continue in each place ; maize is often 
dropped in the drills, and is suffered to grow amongst the 
cotton-crop. About eighty days after sowing the seeds, the 
plant produces its blossoms, which are handsome mallow- 
like flowers, either red or yellow; these are succeeded by 
pods or lolls, containing the seed and cotton, which are 



COTTON. 



179 



gathered when ripe^ and the cotton covering the vseeds 
removed by a pecuUar apparatus called a gin. There are 
many modifications of the cotton-gin^ but the principle 
upon which they all act is by saws with long teeth passing 
through the cotton ; these pull tufts of the wool from the 
seed^ while a pair of brushes keep the teeth clear and collect 
the cotton. Gins are worked either by hand or by machi- 
nery. Another process is used in some cotton districts, 
called bowing ; the bowed cottons all come from America. 

We receive cotton wool from North and South America, 
the East and "West Indies, and from Egypt and Port Natal, 
in Africa. The quantity imported is almost incredible, 
amounting often to one million and three-quarters of bales, 
averaging three hundred and thirty-six pounds each. 

Some of the statistics of cotton wool are exceedingly in- 
teresting. Thus in 1850 the average weekly consumption in 
England and Scotland was 29,125 bales. The exact im^ports 
of that year amounted to 1,749,295 bales, of which 272,400 
were again exported chiefly to Northern Europe. The 
highest value for the Sea Island Cotton of the United States 
was 11 %d. per lb. ; for Brazilian, 8|^?. ; West Indian, 9 J^/. ; 
East Indian, Q\d, ; and Egyptian, 10<^. The declared value 
of cotton manufactures exported from the United Kingdom 



180 



POPULAE ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



in 1850 was £28,252,878. The value of those consumed 
in this country is assumed by Mr. B. Bole, in his statistics, 
to be three times the value of the material consumed, which 
would give £52,000,000; or £80,000,000 as the total value 
of one yearns manufacture from the w^ooUy covering of the 
seed of the cotton-plant ! The number of factories employed 
in weaving and spinning cotton wool in England and 
Wales is 1753, containing 223,626 power-looms, turning 
19,173,969 spindles, moved by steam-engines of the united 
power of 62,940 horses, and w^ater-power equal to 1182 
horses, employing 131,610 male persons and 160,052 
females, or an aggregate of 291,662 human beings. 

In Scotland the number of weaving and spinning factories 
is 168, containing 23,564 power-looms, turning 1,683,093 
spindles, moved by steam-powder equal to 7712 horses 
and water equal to 2842 horses, employing 8797 males 
and 27,528 females, or 36,325 persons. In Ireland, eleven 
factories, 2437 looms, 119,955 spindles, with steam-power 
equal to 353 horses, and water motive power equivalent to 
1024 horses, employing 1094 males and 1843 females, or 
2937 persons. Or for the United Kingdom, 1932 factories, 
employing a motive power equivalent to that of 82,555 
horses, and employing 330,924 human beings, involving a 



VEGETABLE SILK. 



181 



capital of probably £3^000^000^ all employed in working out 
a vegetable fibre which the beneficent Creator has bestowed 
for the protection of a small seed not larger than a pea, 
and for the clothing of the human race. 

Vegetable Silk. Chorisia speciosa, (Nat. Ord, Ster- 
culiacece,) 

This curious production is called Arvore de Faina in 
South America, where it is extensively used in stuffing 
cushions, but cannot be woven in consequence of the indi- 
vidual fibres being perfectly smooth, not rough and adhe- 
rent like those of the cotton. It resembles cotton wool, but 
has a beautiful satiny lustre, and is extremely light; it is 
not unlike the beautiful down of the Cotton-grasses {Erio- 
phonim : OyperacecE) so common upon the moors of this 
country. Small quantities are occasionally imported for 
stuffing and probably for mixing with down of birds as an 
adulteration. 

The Indian Grass Matting, so much esteemed in India 
and Europe, is made from Papyrus corynibosus. This ma- 
terial is not imported in an unmanufactured state, but 
woven into mats ; it reaches us in very large quantities. 

There are many other vegetable fibres used for textile 
and similar purposes in various parts of the world ; indeed 



182 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



SO nuinerous are they that our limits would be insufiBcient 
for their description. In India especially there are some 
of considerable importance ; and as they have been made 
known to us by the indefatigable exertions of Dr. Royle^ 
who collected and exhibited them in hds magnificent series 
of raw produce at the Great Industrial Exhibition^ it will 
not be out of place to give the names of those exhibited, of 
which we know the producing plants. 

SuNNEE. — ^Pibre of the stems of Hibiscus cannahinus 
(Nat. Ord. Malvacece), called Talungeo^ from Coimbatore. 
This is also called Brown Indian Hemp, Ambari, and Sun : 
this last name is more generally applied to another material. 

String and ropes of the fibre of Batihinia racemosa 
(Nat. Ord. Legtminosd) , called Futwa, from Bhagulpore. 

Jetee or Tongoose fibre, from the stems of Asclepias 
tenacissima (Nat. Ord. Asclejfiiadaced) , from Madras. 

Tercum fibres, from the bark of Calotropis gigantea (Nat. 
Ord. Leguminosce) . 

Fibre from the stalks of Tarlcinsonia aeuleata (Nat. 
Ord. Legtminosd) . 

Pulas cordage, from fibres of the inner bark of Butea 
frondosa, a fine tree (Nat. Ord. Leguminoscje) . 

Palmyra fibres, from the leaves of Borassus fahelliformis 



VEGETABLE ElBRES. 



183 



(Nat. Ord. Palmace^E), This fibre resembled exactly a 
sample of one^ which the author once saw prepared from 
the leaves of the fine Brazilian Carnauba palm^ Coryplta 
cerifera (Plate YIII. fig. 38). 

Duchai Hemp, fibre of j^EscJiynomene cannahina (Nat. 
Ord. Leguminosce) . 

Morgahee, African Hemp, or Bowstring Hemp fibres, 
prepared by hand from the leaves of Sanseviera Zeylanica 
(Nat. Ord. Liliacece), found all over the tropics of India 
and Africa. 

Elax from Bvehmeria candieans (Nat. Ord. Urticace^) , 

Fibres of Neilgherry Nettle — Urtica keterophi/Ua. (Nat. 
Ord. JJrticacecE^ 

Caloee Hemp, Ehea fibre, from Urtica tenacissima. 

Besides these East Indian fibres, there is one of some in- 
terest which has been occasionally imported from Owhyee, 
and probably other islands of the Pacific. One sample only 
has been seen by the author : it was called Pu-lu or Vegetable 
Silk, and w^as introduced experimentally for mixing with silk 
in the manufacture of hats, — whether successfully is not 
known. After much difficulty the author ascertained that 
this substance was derived from the tree-ferns : the unde- 
veloped circinate leaves of the growing axis being beauti- 



184 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



fully clothed with this vegetable silk^ which in beauty is no 
mean rival to that produced by the silkworm. It resem- 
bles the unravelled fibres of rich orange-brown satin. A 
very small sample is in the Liverpool collection of Imports. 

It is impossible to overrate the importance of the sub- 
stances comprised in this division ; for although our first 
parents^ upon their expulsion from Paradise^ were clothed 
by God in dresses made of the skins of beasts^ and the 
most savage tribes have alw^ays followed their example^ 
nevertheless, as civilization has advanced^ the art of weaving 
has become absolutely necessary to economize the limited 
resources of the animal kingdom, which, with the present 
population of the world, would be insufficient to farnish 
raiment for a fiftieth part of our race. Besides this, miles 
of canvas are spread upoi^ the ocean, and thousands of 
miles of cordage are required to enable our vessels to navi- 
gate the w^aters of the globe. Vegetable fibres clothe mil- 
lions of the great human family; vegetable fibres assist in 
wafting the commerce of the world from port to port, and 
carry along the floating batteries and castles which are the 
safeguard of our sea-girt isle. Vegetable fibres form shel- 
tering tents for the armies of nearly all nations ; and they 
furnish the means to industrious hands of earning the 



VEGETABLE EIBEES. 



1S5 



necessaries of existence^ — too often^ it is true^ earned hardly 
and painfully^ as we have been told by the immortal Hood 
in his Song of the Shirt/^ the words of which are as un- 
dying as the feelings of love and charity by which they were 
dictated. U to our statistics of cotton we could have 
added information as to the number of half-starved^ wretched, 
and broken spirits who are daily toiling for their bread, 
amid the roar of those 249,627 looms and surrounded by 
the dizzying whirl of those twenty-one milhons of spindles, 
we should then see one of the dark scenes of life, which for 
oar comfort is best hidden. We will look to a brighter 
picture. 

* ■ Yon cottager^ who weaves at her ovm door, 
Pillow and bobbins all her little store ; 
Content though mean, and cheerful if not gay, 
Shuffling her threads about the livelong day ; 
Just earns a scanty pittance, and at night 
Lies down secure, her heart and pocket light. 
She, for her humble sphere by nature fit, 
Has little understanding, and no wit ; 
Receives no praise, but though her lot be such 
(Toilsome and indigent), she renders much ; 
Just knows, and knovrs no more, her Bible true — 
A truth the brilliant Frenchman never knew ; 
And in that charter reads, with sparkling eyes, 
Her title to a treasure in the skies." 



186 



DIVISION III. 

MISCELLANEOUS PEODUCTS USED IN THE AETS 
AND MANUEACTUEL^G PEOCESSES. 

Under this division we rank a very heterogeneous assem- 
blage of materials, many of them exercising immense in- 
fluence in the commerce of nations. Eirst, we have those 
which, by the peculiar influence of the chemical principle 
called Tannin (tannic acid) contained in them, convert the 
albumen and gelatine of animal tissues into tannates of 
those bases, thus forming compounds which are insoluble in 
water, hence the durability of leather. Next we have the 
varied materials of the dyers^ art, carefully selected and 
requiring nice manipulation, and the powerful aid of the 
chemist, to produce the infinitely varied tints of colour 
which give beauty to the textile fabrics of the weaver ; and, 
to close the series, we have the gums, resins, and oils, which 
are applied in numerous ways to the arts of social life. 



187 



CHAPTER VIII. 

TA^NNING MATERIALS. 

The most generally used material for converting the skins 
of animals into the valuable economic article leather^ is the 
bark of the common oak, and various less common species 
of the same genus. Several of the tanning materials are 
also used in dyeing. 

Oak Bark. Qiiercus jpediinculata, (Nat. Ord. Cory- 
lacea, Mirbel.) 

This familiar tree needs no description. Some there are 
however who regard it only as furnishing material for those 

wooden walls^^ which are both the glory and defence of 
our country ; but valuable as is the timber of the oak-tree, 
its bark is also of great utility, furnishing perhaps the best 
known material for tanning hides and skins. This astrin- 
gent property, found in aU parts of the oak-tree, was known 



188 



POPULAR ECOKOMIC BOTANY. 



to the ancients, and was commented upon by Dioscorides. 
Besides the bark of Q. pedunctilataj that of other species 
of oak not distinguishable as bark is mixed and used indis- 
criminately ; particularly that of Q. sessiliflora. Much oak- 
bark is of course furnished from our own forests, but a 
prodigious quantity is also exported from the continent of 
Europe, chiefly from the ports of Holland and Belgium ; 
the foreign article is cut into small pieces about three inches 
in length. In 1852 we received 19,034 tons, and the 
home produce was 150,000 tons ; this however probably 
embraced a large proportion of tlie bark of the Larch 
{Finns Larixj Nat. Ord. Finaceci), which is also of great 
value, being only inferior to the oak. 

CoEK-TREE Bark — Qiierciis Sufjer, — The bark of the 
cork oak, w^hen young, that is, about twelve years of age, is of 
no use for the ordinary purposes to which cork is applied ; 
but its removal, if performed with proper care, rather tends 
to the fnture vigour of the tree and improves its cork- 
bearing qualities. The young bark so removed is imported 
to this country for tanning purposes under the above name ; 
it usually comes from Eabat, in pieces about a foot in 
length, shaped very irregularly. We receive about three or 
four hundred tons annually. 



MAKGEOVE BAliK. 



189 



Yaloxia. — The acorn-cups of Quercus jSHgilops, (Plate 
XII. fig. 60.) This oak is a dwarf shrubby species grow- 
ing abundantly in the Levant ; the acorns produced by it 
are very large, the cups often measuring over an inch in 
diameter; they have a whitish colour and a peculiar rough 
appearance, owing to their being covered externally with 
large reflexed woody scales, Yalonia is very valuable for 
its tanning properties, and the abundance in which it is 
produced spontaneously. YTe receive it chiefly from Smyrna, 
whence not less than 13,520 tons were imported in 1850. 
There are two articles, one called Camata (Plate XII. fig. 
61), the other Camatina (Plate XII. fig. 62), which are 
also produced by Quercus j3^gilojos, Camata consists of the 
half-grown acorns dried, and Camatina is the ovule en- 
veloped in its involucre just after the flowering is over, in 
other words an incipient acorn ; so that these three materials 
are the seeds of this oak in three stages of development. 
Yalonia is the least valuable of the three. 

MxiNGROVE Bark. RMzojoJiora Mangle. (Nat. Ord. 
BhizopJioracece.) — This tree is most abundant in tropical 
countries, on the marshy banks of rivers, where it forms an 
impenetrable jungle from the circumstance of its branches 
throwing down roots somew^iat after the manner of the 



190 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



Banyan tree. Importations of the bark have been occa- 
sionally received from the West Indies^ and more frequently 
from Africa^ but it is by no means a common commercial 
article. Its only value is as a tanning material, and in this 
respect it is of second-rate importance. 

Acacia Bark. Acacia melanoxylon, (Nat. Ord. Legu- 
minom^ — This bark is extremely valuable in tanning pro- 
cesses ; but as it is one of the natural products of Austraha, 
shipments to this country are very irregular and lately have 
been very scarce, its bnlk almost precluding the possibility 
of its importation with profit. An extract made from this 
bark has however frequently been imported, and will pro- 
bably at some future day form a valuable export from Aus- 
tralia, rivalling the Cutch and Gambir of India. 

Babool Bauk. — The barks of the Acacia Arabica andr 
Acacia Catechu, generally mixed. — -These barks, under the 
name of Baiool, are extensively used in the East Indies, and 
have been occasionally, but without success, imported to 
England. 

PoMEGEANATE Bark. — The rind of the fruit of the 
Pomegranate, Punica Granatum, (Plate IV. fig. 19.)— A 
few packages of this rind or bark are occasionally im- 
ported from Barbary for tanning the finer kinds of leather ; 



DIVI-DIVI. 



191 



it is said to form the principal material for tanning the cele- 
brated Morocco leather. 

Divi-Divr^ LiBi-DiBi or LiBi-Divi (the native name) . — = 
The seed-pods of C^esalpinia coriaria, (Nat. Ord. Legumi- 
noscE,) (Plate XII. fig. 59.) 

This tree is a native of the sea-side marshes of Curacjoa^ 
St. Domingo^ Cartagena^ and several other places on the 
Spanish Main. It attains a height of from fifteen to twenty 
feet^ producing an immense number of small yellow labur- 
num-like flowers; these are succeeded by a pod varying 
from one to three inches in length and two-thirds of an 
inch broad^ of a dark glossy-brown colour. As they grow, 
these pods become curled in a very remarkable manner, 
when short making merely one bend hke the letter but 
when of the full length, two curves, like the letter S. Divi- 
divi is one of the most astringent of all vegetable sub- 
stances, and consequently is of great value in tanning. At 
present it is produced in such enormous quantities natu- 
rally, that no need has yet been felt for its cultivation, but 
it would doubtless well repay the grower. It is not used 
by itself, but is generally mixed with oak-bark and valonia. 
We receive it chiefly from Savanilla, Maracaibo, Paraiba, 
and St. Domingo; in 1851 more than 3000 tons were im- 
ported. 



192 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



Pi-pi. — The ripe pods or legumes of Ccesalpinia Papai 
(Nat. Ord. Legumi7iGS(E), (Plate XII. fig. 63.)— Tliis tan- 
ning material more frequently comes mixed with Divi-divi, 
than as a separate importation, and when so mixed decreases 
the value of tlie latter. •Sometimes, though rarely, small 
quantities of Pi-pi are imported, but it is not much valued. 

Algaeobilla, Algaroba. — The legumes of a species 
of Prosopis, supposed to be P. pallida (Nat. Ord. Legumi- 
noscB) . — Most of the species of Prosopis have short round- 
ish pods with a wavy outline longitudinally; the seeds 
therein are enveloped in a sweetish pulp, which in sonie of 
the species is also possessed of considerable astringency. 
When ripe the pods fall off the trees, and they soon decom- 
pose and run into a mass with the pulp, and a resinous juice 
contained in the shells of the pod. This mass is collected 
when dried, packed into bags, and exported ; the material has 
a very destructive effect upon the bagging, so that it usually 
reaches this country in bulJc, the packages becoming de- 
stroyed on the voyage; it is not very useful, aiid is only 
occasionally imported. About 700 tons have been received 
at the port of Liverpool. 

Neb-^^eb. — The dried pods of Acacia Nilotica, (Nat. 
Ord. Leguminos{B, Suborder Mimosece,) — These Minosa-pods, 



CATECHU. 



193 



sometimes called Nib-nib, are much used by the Egyptian 
tanners ; they are about two or three inches in lengthy flat 
and drawn in between each seed : this is a characteristic of 
the Mimosa tribe. A few importations have been seen in 
the British markets^ but they are not in demand. 

Catechu, Teera Japonica, Cutch, and Gambier. — 
Under these names we receive very large quantities of vege- 
table extract which contains tannic acid in great abundance, 
and is consequently very valuable in tanning processes. 
The various names under which this article comes, serve 
to define several well-marked varieties, which probably ori- 
ginate entirely from the different modes of manufacture 
adopted by the natives in various localities of the Indian 
Empire, whence we derive the entire supply of this useful 
material. 

Catechu is the extract of the wood of Acacia Catechu 
(Nat. Ord. Leguminosce), the seeds of Areca Catechu (Nat. 
Ord. Palniacece), and the leaves of Nauclea Gambir (Nat. 
Ord. CinchonacecB) , 

The Acacia Catechu is a small spiny tree rarely exceeding 
twenty feet in height ; the w^ood is hard and heavy, the cen- 
tre is of a very dark red colour, nearly approaching to black ; 
it is from this portion of the wood the extract is made. In 

o 



194 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



India it is made by the poorer natives^ who move from place 
to place^ selecting jungles where the Acacia is most 
abundant. They cut down the trees and chop the heart- 
wood into chips, which they boil in water ; when the water 
is deeply coloured, it is strained off, and submitted to the 
process of evaporation, fresh supplies of the decoction being 
added, until the whole by evaporation becomes thickened 
sufficiently ; it is then poured out into clay moulds, and left 
to dry in the sun. 

An interesting sketch, from the Letters of Dr. J. D. 
Hooker, published in ^ Hooker^s Journal of Botany,^ will 
give a painful insight into the life of the Kutt^' makers 
of India. 

At half-past eight a. m. it suddenly fell calm, and we 
proceeded to Chakuchee, the native carts breaking down in 
their passage over the projecting beds of flinty rocks, or as 
they hurried down the inclined planes which we cut through 
the precipitous banks of the streams. Near Chakuchee we 
passed an alligator, just killed by two men, — a foul beast 
about nine feet long, and of the Mager kind. More inter- 
esting than its natural history was the painful circumstance 
of its having just swallowed a child, that was playing in 
the water, while its mother was washing her domestic uten- 



CATECHU. 



195 



sils in the river. The brute was hardly dead^ much dis- 
tended by its prey, and the mother standing beside it. A 
very touching group was this ! the parent^ with her hands 
clasped in agony^, unable to withdraw her eyes from the 
cursed reptile, which still clung to life with that tenacity 
for which its tribe is so noted, and beside her the two 
athletse leaning on their bloody bamboo staffs, with which 
they had all but despatched the animal. 

"The poor woman who lost her child earns a scanty 
maintenance by making catechu. She inhabits a little 
cottage and has no property but her two Bhiles (oxen) to 
bring wood from the hills, and a very few household chat- 
tels, and how few these are is known only to persons who 
have seen the meagre furniture of the Dangha hovels. 
Her husband cuts the trees in the forest, and drags them 
to the hut ; but he is now sick ; and her only son, her 
future stay, was he whose end I have just related. 

" Her daily food is rice, with beans from the beautiful- 
flowered BolicJws, trailing round the cottage ; and she is in 
debt to the contractor, who has advanced her two rupees, 
to be worked off in three months, by the preparation of 
240 lbs. of catechu. The present was her second husband, 
an old man ; by him she never had any children, and in 



196 



POPULAE ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



this respect alone did the poor creature think herself very 
unfortunate^ for her poverty she did not feeL Rent to the 
Eajah^ tax to the police^ and rates to the Brahminee priest, 
are all paid from an acre of land, yielding so wretched a 
crop of barley, that it more resembled a fallow-field than a 
harvest-field. All day long she is boiling down the catechu- 
wood cut into chips, and pouring the decoction into large 
wooden troughs, where it is inspissated.^^ 

Dr. Hooker thus describes the Acacia Catechu : — " The 
plant is a little thorny tree (dire enemy of mine), erect, 
and spreading a rounded coma of well-remembered prickly 
branches. Its wood is yellow, with a dark brick-red heart : 
it is most productive in January, and useless in June.''^ 
■ The catechu made from the Acacia Catechu is also called 
Cutch and Terra Japonica. The first of these names is 
derived from cate, a tree, and cht, juice. The term Cutch 
is said to be also from the native language, in which it is 
called Kiitt. The term Terra Japonica was applied by 
European pharmaceutists when the substance was first im- 
ported as a kind of astringent earth from Japan. In com- 
merce one variety is termed Catechu, and another Cutch, 
although the source is the same. The former has been poured 
out upon mats, when about the consistency of honey, and 



CATECHU. 



197 



dried in the sun ; when sufficiently hardened^ it is cut into 
small square pieces and thoroughly dried^ and in this state 
packed into cane baskets for exportation. This variety has 
a light chocolate-brown colour^ and the cubes are about an 
inch square^ having an earthy fracture and external appear- 
ance. The other variety^ Ctttchy is of a darker colour^ rich 
brown^ with a shining appearance and fracture; it comes 
much mixed with the broken leaves on which it has been 
laid to dry ; it is packed in a similar manner to the catechu^ 
but is most generally run into one mass. 

Gambler^ or Gambir^ is an extract of the leaves of the 
Nandea Gamhir : this plant belongs to the Natural Order 
of the Cinchonas^ or Jesuits^ bark trees. It is made by boil- 
ing the leaves and evaporating the decoction to dryness ; in 
appearance it resembles cutch^ but is not so glossy in its 
fracture, and rather lighter in colour. It is mostly imported 
from Singapore, where it is extensively cultivated. 

Small quantities of a remarkably fine kind of catechu 
have occasionally been imported in the form of small round 
cakes, about one inch in thickness and two inches and a 
half in diameter, and rounded at the edges. These cakes 
are of a very dark brown colour, and rather glossy ; they 
come in cases carefully packed, with a small piece of maize- 



198 



POPULAE ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



leaf between each. This substance is called Kassu, and is 
known to be manufactured from the seeds of the Areca 
Catechuy or Betel nut^ one of the palms. 

Another vegetable extract^ now very frequently imported 
under the name of Catechu from FegUj is prepared from the 
B^dea frondosa, a leguminons tree, with handsome pea- 
shaped flowers, very common in India; every part of the 
tree abounds in the astringent principle. 

There are other extracts imported occasionally, for tanners^ 
use, which also receive the common designation of Catechu, 
but the sources from whence they are derived is unknown. 
One variety is the Brown Catechu m conical masses, from 
Siam. The quantity of Cutch and Gambler imported into 
Great Britain was last year about 1350 tons. 

Myrobalans. Terminalia Chehda, (INTat. Ord. Comhre- 
tacecE,) (Plate XIII. fig. 68.) 

The seeds called commercially Myraholams are the dried 
fruit of a small tree, very common in many districts of 
India and other parts of Asia; it is probable they are derived 
from more than one species of Terminalia, It is much 
valued both as a dye-stuff and also as a tanning material. 
The Myrobalans are about an inch in length, about the size 
and shape of a Spanish olive, with an olive-yellow-coloured 



MYROBALAlSrS. 



199 



pericarp, generally strongly marked with longitudinal 
wrinkles. They have become a very important item in our 
commerce with India, but their introduction to general use 
can only date back about ten years. The imports, according 
to Mr. Poole, now amount to about 1200 tons annually. 



200 



CHAPTER IX. 

MATERIALS USED IN DYEING. 

Along the sunny bank^ or watery mead, 

Ten thousand stalks the various blossoms spread. 

Peaceful and lowly in their native soil. 

They neither know to spin or care to toil ; 

Yet with confess'd magnificence deride 

Our vile attire, and impotence of pride. 

The cowslip smiles, in brighter yellow dress'd 

Than that which veils the nubile virgin's breast ; 

A fairer red stands blushing on the rose. 

Than that which on the bridegroom's vestment flows. 

Take but the humble lily of the field ; 

And, if our pride will to our reason yield. 

It must by sure comparison be shown 

That on the regal seat great David's son, 

Array'd in all his robes and types of power, 

Shines with less glory than that simple flower." 

GoKGEOUs as are the colours of flowers^ they afford but 
little assistance to the dyer^s art^ except in the patterns 




76 Logwood Tree. 77. Eustic Tree. 78. Muiijeet 
79. Sujnach 80. 'Maaiei? , 



LOGWOOD. 



201 



which they offer for his imitation. Generally speaking, 
they are as fugacious as they are brilliant ; and those most 
dazzling to the eyes are often the most ephemeral. The 
vegetable products which are used in the process of dyeing, 
are often totally different in colour themselves, to the tints 
which they yield under the skilful treatment of the dyer. 
But much as art has done to improve this important branch 
of our manufactures, we are still very far from rivalKng the 
flowers of the field; and if the ^^lily of the valley men- 
tioned in Scripture is, as is very generally supposed, the 
Lilium Chalcedonicum, not even the rapid advance of the 
arts and sciences has yet enabled the sovereigns of the earth 
to say their vestments can rival those of that lily in beauty 
and brilHancy. 

Our vegetable dyes are derived from all the parts of 
plants : thus the roots of some, the wood of many more, the 
bark, the leaves, the flowers, and the fruit of others. The 
first we shall notice is the 

Logwood. Hcematoxylon Campechiamm, (Nat. Ord. 
Leguminos^e.) (Plate XV. fig. 76.) 

The tree producing this dye is a native of the province of 
Yucatan, in South America, the principal town of which, 
Campeachy, situated on the river San Francisco, in the Bay 







202 POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 

of Campeachy^ was formerly the mart for logwood j but it is 
now extensively cultivated in Jamaica^ and the chief trade 
is removed to Belize^ a British settlement in the Bay of 
Honduras^ whence immense quantities are annually ex- 
ported. Logwood was introduced into England as a dye in 
the reign of Queen Elizabeth^ but^ owing to the ignorance 
of the dyers in fixing the colour, it fell into such disrepute 
as to occasion the passing an Act of Parliament, entitled 
an " Act for abolishing certain deceitful stufPs employed in 
dyeing cloths this law remained in force, and prohibited 
the use of logwood, until 1661, when it was repealed. 

This Hcematoxylon is a tree reaching fifty feet in height. 
The wood is very hard and dense, having a greater specific 
gravity than water; the. leaves are very handsome, they are 
pinnate and of a fine dark glossy green colour ; the flowers 
are pea-shaped, in fine yellow racemes. 

The colouring matter depends upon a peculiar principle 
called hcematiny or Jioimatoxylm, a red crystalline substance, 
which is so abundant in some samples as to exist in the 
form of distinct blood-red crystals. The stems are cut into 
large logs, and the bark and alburnum, or white wood, is 
chopped off; the dark-red inner wood being the only 
valuable portion. 



PEACH WOOD. 



203 



The colour of a decoction of logwood is of a brownish 
blood-red. Acids change it to the bright colour of red ink 
(which is usually made by adding acetic acid to an infusion 
of logwood chips). The alkaUes strike a purple or violet, 
and the salts of iron a dark violet, approaching a black 
colour. 

The quantity of logwood imported into England in 1851 
was 34,090 tons. The value is in proportion to the size of 
the logs, the largest being the most prized. Latterly, large 
quantities of the extract of logwood have been imported 
from time to time. 

NiCAEAGTJA, Lima, or Peach- wood. CcBsaVpinia echinata, 
(Nat. Ord. Leguminosce,) 

This is sometimes called Bresil de St. Martha. It is in 
logs about four feet in length, with a diameter of six or 
eight inches ; the whole surface is broken up with deep 
clefts, giving a very singular appearance to the pieces, which 
are of a dark reddish-brown colour, the white wood or 
alburnum being wholly or partly removed; like logwood, 
the larger the logs, the greater is their value. 

It dyes red and peach-colour, and is very extensively 
used; about 7000 tons are annually imported, chiefly from 
Rio de la Hache, Mazatlan, Eealijo, and Lima. 



204 



POPULAE ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



Brazil-wood. C(2sal]oinia ciista, (Nat. Ord. Legumi- 
nosa.) 

This tree is from fifteen to twenty feet in height^ with 
prickly branches and racemes of yellow flowers. The 
wood is in much thinner pieces^ and of a paler colour than 
the two preceding dye-woods; it yields rose-colour^ red^ 
and yellow^ according to the mordants used, but the 
colours are not permanent, and the wood is less used than 
formerly, owing to the introduction of superior materials. 
About 800 tons is now the amount of the annual imports. 

Beaziletto-wood. Casal2ohiia Brasiliensis, (Nat. Ord. 
Leguminosa,) 

The tree which produces this wood is a native of Jamaica, 
St. Domingo, and probably the South American continent ; 
it rarely attains any great size, — about twenty feet is its 
maximum height. The foliage is remarkably handsome, 
each leaf consisting of from six to nine pairs of pinnse, and 
each pinna of six to eight pairs of oval, obtuse, oblong, 
glabrous leaflets, of a very bright, glossy, emerald- green 
colour, reminding us of the beautiful fronds of some of the 
ferns of the genus Adiantum, Braziletto is a very useful 
dye, producing fine red and orange-red colours. The 
imports amount to about 400 tons per annum. There are 



CAM-WOOD. 



205 



two varieties^ one of which, called the Eoyal Braziletto, is 
chiefly consumed in Spain. 

Sapan-wood, Bookum or Bukkum-wood. Caesalpinia 
Sapan, (Nat. Ord. Leguminosa,) 

The Sapan-tree is a native of the East Indies ; it is as 
much as forty feet in height, with handsome compound 
foliage somewhat similar to the last, and handsome racemes 
of yellow flowers. The branches only are used, and from 
these the bark is entirely removed before exportation ; the 
pieces are generally about three to four feet in length, and 
vary from one to three inches in diameter. Sapan-wood 
yields a good red dye, which however is not easily fixed ; 
nevertheless it is very extensively used both in India and 
also in Europe; our imports alone were 3670 tons in 
1850. The red Telinga cottons are dyed with Sapan-wood. 

Sapan-wood root is occasionally imported from Singapore 
and other places, under the names of Yellow -wood, Sapan- 
wood root, and Sapan root; it imparts a yellow colour. 
The pieces are usually thin, and about two or three feet in 
length, with the bark cut off. 

Cam-wood. Baphia nitida, (Nat. Ord. Legiminosce.) 

This tree is a native of Sierra Leone, with shining im- 
perfectly pinnate leaves, and white or yellow flowers. It is 



206 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



of considerable size, often attaining the height of fifty feet. 
The stem is the part lised ; it is cut into logs about four 
feet in length, and these, after the removal of the bark and 
outer wood, are split and trimmed square for exportation ; 
they are of a rich deep red colour. It yields a brilliant red 
dye, which is rendered much deeper by sulphate of iron. 
The red of the English Bandana handkerchiefs is produced 
by Cam-wood. About 1100 tons are annually imported. 

Bar-wood is the produce of the same tree, and possesses 
no sensible difference either in quality or appearance ; it also 
comes from the coast of Africa. 

Saunders or Eed Sandal. Pterocarjous Santalimis. 
(Nat. Ord. Leguminoscs.) 

This dye-wood is the produce of a large tree growing to 
the height of sixty or seventy feet, on the mountains and 
in other parts of India. It is usually imported in small 
billets two or three feet in length, of a fine deep red colour ; 
the concentric circles of the transverse section being divided 
by dark, almost black lines. "With different mordants it 
yields brownish-red, scarlet-red, deep crimson, and yellowish- 
red. These colours however are not very permanent. The 
imports amount to about 350 tons per annum. Another 
dye-wood, also called Eed Sandal-wood, is produced by 



FUSTIC. 



207 



Adenantliera jQavonina^ one of the largest trees of India ; 
the native name is Eukta-chundun. Neither of these must 
be confounded with the sweet-scented Sandal-woods, which 
will be described. in the chapter on Furniture Woods. 

PusTic, Old Fustic. Madura timtoria (Plate XY. 
fig. 77) (Nat. Ord. Moracece), and probably other species of 
the same genus. 

The tree producing this dye-wood is closely allied to the 
mulberry ; it is a native of the West India Islands and the 
coast of South America. Jamaica, St. Domingo, and Sava- 
nilla, are the principal places of export ; it is of large size, 
the logs we receive being about from one foot to two and a 
half feet in diameter, and from three to four feet in length. 
The colour of the wood is a fine golden yellow. The French 
dyers applied the nd^rnQfustet to a European dye-wood, and 
from this we have derived the term fustic. The term old 
fustic is decidedly absurd ; it arose from the great error 
of supposing that the wood of Rhus Cotinus {fustet of the 
French) was the young branches of the fustic-tree; one 
however is a mere shrub, native of Europe, the other an 
immense tree, a native of the New World. Fustic dyes 
yellow, olive, brown, marone, bronze, and Saxon-green. The 
quantity imported in 1851 was 9808 tons. 



208 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



Young Fustic, or Zante Tustic. Wins Cotinus. (Nat. 
Ord. Anacarcliacece,) (Plate XV. fig. 79.) 

A very ornamental shrub^ grown extensively in the Greek 
Islands, where it is much used for dyeing a beautiful rich 
yellow colour. It is the same as the Venetian sumach or 
wild olive. Our imports are chiefly from Patras and Ithaca, 
and consist of four or five tons with each cargo of currants, 
for w^hich cargoes the fustic is used as dunnage. Young 
fastic is in crooked sticks about four or five feet in length, 
two or three inches in diameter, and of a light sulphur- 
yellow colour, the bark being completely removed. Be- 
tween 800 and 400 tons are annually imported. 

Geeen Ebony. Jacaranda ovalifolia. (Nat. Ord. Big- 
iwniacea.) 

This tree is a native of South America, where it is 
prized both as a hard wood and a dye-stuff; it is of an 
olive-green colour, in pieces about three feet in length, and 
yields olive-green, brown, and yellow colours. About 700 
tons are imported annually. 

These are the principal woods used in dyeing; several 
others occasionally come, but owing to the careless manner 
in wliich names are applied it is impossible to ascertain their 
history. A familiar example of this difficulty will be found 



MADDER EOOT. 



209 



in the history of Fustic^ the name being applied to two dis- 
tinctly different woods^ leading to the assumption that they 
are products of the same tree^ but of different ages; 
whereas one is tropical American^ the other European, and 
they belong to two distinct Natural Orders. In commercial 
matters many such errors arise, and are fostered for long 
periods. The remaining dye-stuffs consist of roots, leaves, 
flowers, and even the entire plant of some species. 

Madder Eoot. Uubia tinctorum, (Nat. Ord. Galiacece,) 
(Plate XY. fig. 80.) 

Madder is one of the most important dyes known. There 
are several distinct species used, but the European madder 
is from Ruhia tinctorum and probably E. joeregrina. This 
plant is extensively cultivated in Southern Europe and in 
Holland. We receive very large quantities of the root 
from Smyrna, Trieste, Leghorn, and other Mediterranean 
ports, packed usually in square bales covered with cloth 
made of horsehair, or partly wool and horsehair. We also 
receive great quantities of a less valuable description from 
Holland, which is generally if not always in powder, under 
the name of ground madder, packed in very large casks. 

The dyeing qualities of the madder-plant were known 
both to the Greeks and Eomans. Dioscorides states that 

p 



210 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



it was found both wild and cultivated in Italy and Asia 
Minor, and, besides being used in dyeing, was also used in 
medicine under the name of ErT/throdanon, Pliny mentions 
it under the same name, and also calls it RuUa, which is now 
used for its generic appellation. Leuchs, in his ^Traite 
complet des Matieres Tinctoriales,^ says that the Romans 
also called it Vcerantia, whence the French have derived 
their name Garance. It gives the much-admired Turkey- 
red colour, also madder-brown and madder-yellow ; but it 
requires nice manipulation to produce bright colours with 
this material. Formerly the Turks understood the use of 
madder better than any other people, but lately the art in 
this country has attained equal if not superior excellence. 
The cultivation of madder, which occupies a large portion of 
the agricultural class in Turkey and the Levant, and also in 
Holland and France, requires much care and labour ; the 
soil requires to be well and deeply worked. The plant is 
propagated by sets, or suckers from the crown of the root, 
those taken above ground succeeding best ; they are planted 
in May or June, nine or ten inches apart. The roots are 
not fit for digging until the third autumn after they are 
planted. When raised the roots are usually dried in kilns ; 
seasons however occur occasionally when the roots are dried 



EAST INDIA MADDER. 



211 



on the land by exposure to the sun and air. In commerce 
we find the following varieties of the common madder : — 
Smyrna, Prench, Syrian, and Italian roots ; and French, 
Dutch-crop, Ombros, Gamene, and Mull ground madders. 
The quantity of roots imported in 1851 was 8081 tons, 
and of ground madder 5012, or both together 13,093 tons. 

Garancine. — This substance is a preparation of madder 
for which we are indebted to the French. It is powdered 
madder, acted upon by sulphuric acid; the acid partly car- 
bonizes the ligninej or woody matter of the madder, with- 
out impairing the colouring matter, which is consequently 
yielded with greater ease. Garancine is a valuable but ex- 
pensive dye; it is in the form of a puce or violet-brown 
coloured powder. We receive only a few tons annually 
from France. 

East India Madder. Rubia Munjista, (Nat. Ord. 
Cinchonacece,) (Plate XV. fig. 78.) 

This is the article known generally as Munjeet or Mun- 
jeeth; it is a native of Nepal, Bengal, and Japan. It 
grows very much in the same way as common madder ; the 
roots however are thinner and much longer ; they are usually 
imported in bundles about the thickness of a man^s wrist, 
but flattened by pressure in the bales, and about two feet 



212 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



in length. The roots are bent three times^ and there are 
about fifty or sixty in each bundle. Munjeet is often called 
Chay-root ; but this is a mistake^ the latter being the pro- 
duce of a totally different plant. "We receive from sixty to 
eighty tons per annum^ all from the East Indies. The uses 
of this root are the same as common madder. 

Chay Root. — Under this name two different kinds of 
root are occasionally imported from India. 

1. The true Chay or Che root^ which somewhat resembles 
Munjeet but is rounder and more brittle. It is the root of 
Oldenlandia umlellata (Nat. Ord. Ruiiacece), a native of 
sandy soils in Java and Coromandel ; it is much cultivated 
in the latter place^ where its roots strike very deep in sandy 
soil. It is used to dye red; purple^ and a fine orange- 
brown. The colouring matter resides entirely in the bark 
of the root ; the inner portion is white and pithy. 

2. The roots of several species of Morinda, or Indian 
Mulberry (Nat. Ord. Ruhiacece), They yield a red dye. 

Morinda umlellata is a small bushy tree^ a native of 
Ceylon and Malacca; the thinnest roots yield a bright 
red dye. This is the Mangkudu root of Malacca. 

Morinda tinctoria, the Ach root of Central India^ is a 
very short tree, with a large bushy head supported on a 



TUEMEKIC. 



313 



trunk only a few feet in height. The wood is very hard 
and durable^ and in high esteem for gun-stocks. The bark 
of the roots yields a red dye^ which is rather fugitive ; the 
natives use alum to fix the colour. 

Morinda citrifolia, a small tree, native of Central India, 
where its roots constitute the red dye caHed al or aal ; it is 
used in giving a permanent red colour to the native cotton 
cloth called hhurwa, which is much worn by the water- 
carriers of India. These Morindas have all been occa- 
sionally imported under the names of Madder, Munjeet, and 
Chav-root. 

Turmeric. — The rhizome or root, stalk of Curcuma longa, 
{^^tOvLZingiheracecE, See p. 77.) (Plate XIII. fig. 65.) 

This vegetable product is supposed to be the Kvireupo^ 
IvSc/c6<; [Cyperus Indicus) of the ancients, w^hich both Dios- 
corides and Pliny describe as resembling the roots of ginger 
in form, but dyeing saliva a saffron-colour when chewed. 
The name Curcuma is derived from the Persian kurJcum, 
saffron. In India it is known under various names, as Aruk 
ool Sufr Jiuldee, Jaola huldee, Huldee, etc. 

Dr. Pereira describes and figures five different varieties 
of Turmeric as those which generally find their way into 
the European markets. 



214 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



1. China Turmerice — ^This sort consists of smooth^ plump, 
round, and long tubers, of a greenish-yellow colour exter- 
nally. They yield a bright powder, and on that account 
fetch a high price, and are much esteemed. 

2. Bengal Turmeric. — This consists principally of long 
thin tubers, externally smooth and of a dull stone-colour; 
internally a deep reddish-yellow colour, and rather brittle, 
with shining fracture. It is not so fine in appearance as 
other sorts, but fetches a high price, and is particularly va- 
luable as a yellow dye. 

3. Madras Turmeric. — This Dr. Pereira calls the most 
showy of all kinds of Turmeric.^^ The tubers are large ; some 
are long with side branches, others are round and oval ; ex- 
ternally they are, in common with the preceding varieties, 
marked at slight distances by transverse ridges, but besides 
these the Madras variety has slight longitudinal wrinkles. 
Externally the colour is bright yellow, internally it resem- 
bles that exhibited by the fracture of Gamboge. 

4. Malabar or Bombay Turmeric — consists of long irre- 
gularly shaped tubers, darkish yellow, and much wrinkled 
externally ; the tubers are smaller than the Madras kind, 
and of an inferior quality. 

6. Java Turmeric — somewhat resembles the Chinese va- 



QUERCITRON BARK. 



215 



riety ; consisting also of short and long tubers, chiefly long, 
and of a greenish-yellow colour. It is not common in the 
markets. 

The colours produced by turmeric are various very beau- 
tiful shades of yellow^ but^ like many others of our most 
beautiful dyes, the colour is not so permanent as could be 
desired. Besides its use in dyeing, turmeric forms a prin- 
cipal ingredient in the favourite Indian condiment curry- 
powder. The quantity imported from India and China in 
1851 was about 2000 tons. 

Quercitron Bark, Quercus tinctoria, {Nat. Ord. 
CorylacecB,) 

The Quercitron Oak is a large tree, a native of North 
America ; the timber is valuable for ship-building purposes, 
and the bark is largely used for tanning leather, but in 
this country it is used for dyeing yellow. For this purpose 
the underbark is crushed, and resembles a mass of short 
yellowish- white fibres, mixed with powdery particles; in 
this state it is packed into very large hogsheads, and ex- 
ported to Europe. Between 3000 and 4000 tons are con- 
sumed annually in England. 

Elavine. — Under this name a new dye-staff has lately 
been imported from the United States. A sample of the 



216 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



first importation was exhibited in the Liverpool collection 
of raw produce^ at the Great Industrial Exhibition ; it was 
presented by T. B. Blackburne^ Esq.^ merchant^ of Liverpool. 
Erom an examination of that specimen^ and some lots sub- 
sequently imported^ besides information from other sources, 
the author is induced to believe that it is a precipitate of 
colouring matter from the Quercitron bark, formed in the 
tan-pits of the American tanners, w^ho endeavour to keep 
its manufacture secret. It is a greenish-yellow powder, and 
is said to give a fine olive-yellow colour to cloth. About 
170 tons have been imported during the last two years. 

Sapploweu. — The dried flowers of Carthamus tinctorius 
(Plate XIY. fig. 71) (Nat. Ord. Comjoositd) pressed into 
little cakes. (Plate XIV. fig. 72.) 

The Carthamus is an annual plant, which has bright yel- 
low composite flowers, somewhat similar to marigolds, about 
as large as a crown-piece in circumference. The florets are 
plucked out, pressed into small cakes, which are dried and 
packed into bales, weighing about two hundredweight each. 
Safflower is used for three different purposes; first, for 
adulterating the more valuable article saffron, this how- 
ever is a very insignificant application; secondly, it is 
largely consumed in the manufacture of rouge, and gives 




71. Safflower TWt.72.A Cake Safflo^esr. 73. laaigo Plant. 74^ . BTo^ o£ In.digo . 75 . Gaxaboge Tree. 



SAFFEON. 



217 



happiness to the heart of many a faded belle^ who, self- 
deceived, believes she has hidden the ravages of time be- 
neath its friendly mask ; and thirdly, in dyeing. Two 
colouring principles exist in Saf&ower : one is soluble in 
water, and is a bright saffron yellow colour; the other, 
which has been called carthamic acid and carthamin, is so- 
luble in alkaline solutions, and is of a fine rose-red colour : 
this latter, when precipitated from its solution, dried, and 
mixed with very finely powdered talc, constitutes rouge. 
Properly prepared, the red colouring-matter communicates 
a beautiful red colour to silks, but is very fugitive, and will 
not bear washing. The quantity of safflower imported is 
considerable. The greater portion comes from the East 
Indies ; this is always pressed into the little cakes before 
mentioned. A small quantity has latterly come from Egypt, 
of very fine quality, not pressed, but loose, like saffron, 
which it very much resembles. The imports into the United 
Kingdom in 1851 were nearly 600 tons. 

Saffeon. — The dried pistils of the common Crocus. 
{Crocus sativ us : Nat. Ord. Iridacece.) 

Though affording a briUiant yellow colour, more easily 
perhaps than any other vegetable product, saffron can hardly, 
in the common acceptation of the term, be considered a dye- 



218 



POPULAE ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



stuff in this country. It is however much used as a colour- 
ing ingredient in food and medicine^ and many medicinal 
virtues have been attributed to it^ both by the ancients and 
moderns. It is of very ancient repute^ being first mentioned 
by Solomon in his Song/^ chap. iv. ver. 14 : Spike- 
nard and saffron ; calamus and cinnamon^ with all trees of 
frankincense ; myrrh and aloes^ with all the chief spices."'^ 
Homer alludes to it in the Iliad ; and that it was familiarly 
known to the Eomans is evidenced by the frequent allusions 
we find in their classical writings to this substance. Thus 
its medicinal properties are alluded to when Propertius 
says, ^^Et crocino nares myrrheus ungat onyx;^^ and Ca- 
tullus alludes to the dyeing quality, and speaks of saffron- 
coloured tunics, ^* tunica crocina/^ Yirgil very often alludes 
to it ; once he says, Circumtextum croceo velamen acan- 
tho.^^ Our English word Saffron is derived from the Ara- 
bians, who called it Zafaran. 

Formerly, saffron was extensively cultivated in England, 
especially in Essex : the name of the town Saffron Walden 
arose from that place being one of the chief marts for this 
article. 

The common crocus is a native of Asia Minor, but it has 
become naturalized over most parts of Europe, and in this 




6 4'. Ter si an Yellow Berries. 65. Turmeric. 60. WKif:e Ga,lls . 

67. Elue Galls. 68. MyrobolaiL Nut . 69. OrchiJla WeoR . 70. Cudbear. 



YELLOW BEEHIES. 



219 



country has given rise to a great number of varieties, which 
are esteemed only as garden flowers. 

There are two kinds of saffron imported, the Spanish and 
the Prench ; formerly an inferior kind was in use, called 
Cahe Saffron, which was in flat cakes made by mixing it 
with gum and rolling it into thin oval cakes about the size 
of the hand. From 5000 to 7000 pounds only are annu- 
ally imported ; and this is chiefly used in pharmacy, the 
dyeing property being inferior in permanency to that of 
other preferable materials. 

Yellow Berries. -r-The berries of RJiamnus infectorius. 
(Nat. Ord. Ekamnacea,) (Plate XIII. fig. 64.) 

The Buckthorn, which produces the berries called yellow 
herries, and sometimes Persian hemes, is a native of the 
South of Europe, where it is much cultivated. It is a 
procumbent shrub, growing naturally in rough rocky places ; 
in the Levant it forms an important article of commerce, 
and in France it is also extensively cultivated. The unripe 
berries are gathered and dried; those from Smyrna and other 
places in the Levant are the best ; those from France are 
smaller and are not much used in this country, — they are 
called Avignon berries, or Grains d' Avignon, 

Yellow-berries produce a beautiful yellow colour, which 



220 



POPULAE, ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



however is giving way to the mineral colours^ in conse- 
quence of its want of permanency — the fault of most 
vegetable colours. The consumption is still very con- 
siderable, amounting to between 500 and 600 tons per 
annum. 

Shumac or Sumach. — ^The dried and powdered leaves of 
^his Cotinus, (Nat. Ovdi.AnacardiacecE.) (Plate XV. fig. 79.) 

This material was known to the ancients, bv whom it 
^ was used for tanning as well as dyeing. It contains large 
quantities of tannin^ as well as a yellow colouring matter 
similar to that yielded by fustic ; the wood of this plant 
has been already described as young fustic. It is brought 
to this country in small bags, of about one hundredweight 
and a half. More than 13,000 tons were imported in 
1852. 

Orchella-weed. — -Under this name are imported several 
species of Roccella, (Nat. Ord. LicJienes.) 

The lichens which constitute the Orchella- weeds of com- 
merce are of an ash-grey colour, and consist of long thin 
flat thalli, or leaves, having a mealy appearance ; they are 
about an inch and a half to two inches in length, and much 
branched. 

The ancients were acquainted with one or more of the 



ORCHELLA. 



221 



species. Pliny alludes to it under the name olfucus mari- 
nus, but he also applied the term fucus to the alkanet or 
red-herb used in dyeing, and from which the rouge, with 
which ^^vetulse vitia corporis fuco occulunt/^ was made. 
He applies fche term fucus also to the juice of the purple- 
fish, a gasteropodous mollusc, of the genus Murex, from 
which the ancients are said to have made the beautiful 
Tyrian purple. In his ^ Dictionnaire Classique d^Histoire 
Naturelle^ Bory de St. Yincent gives his opinion that the 
purple dye of the ancients was prepared from the rock- 
lichen {Roccella), and not from Murex ; as both are found 
upon or near the sea-shore there is some probability of its 
truth. It would be an interesting investigation, to ascer- 
tain whether the purple secretions of many molluscs be not 
derived from the vegetable food they gather from the shore ; 
there is one point however which almost prevents the 
supposition that they feed upon the Eoccella, because it 
grows upon the dr^/ rocks; but it is not impossible that 
some of the marine AlgcB and Fucoidece may yield the same 
colouring principles. Should this be the case, Bory de St. 
Vincent may be right, and we shall not have the interesting 
legend destroyed which describes the discovery of the Tyrian 
purple. This legend states that Hercules made a journey 



222 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



along the sea-shore^ to visit his ladye-love^ who^ it appears^ 
was both capricious and imperious; his dog accompanied 
him^ but^ being more engaged with thoughts of his stomach 
than his hearty the animal sought food from the sea-shells 
which strewed the shore. The lady^ with true feminine 
quickness^ noticed that the mouth of the dog was stained 
with a rich deep purple^ the value of which she at once per- 
ceived j she therefore dismissed her lover in search of this 
purple dye^ telling him not to approach her again until he 
had procured her a robe of the identical colour which had 
excited her admiration. Poor Hercules^ who had conquered 
more difficulties than most men^ was nearly beaten by this 
" labour of love. After much search, he despaired of 
finding the means of dyeing a robe for his mistress like his 
dog^s mouth; and was very dejectedly trudging along the 
same road as before, to plead his almost hopeless case to the 
exacting fair one. His companion, the dog, accompanied 
him as usual, and having made so profitable an excursion 
on the previous occasion, he employed his time in a similar 
indulgence of his taste for shell-fish. To the master^s 
surprise, he again saw the animal had acquired a blue nose ; 
he retraced his steps, watched the actions of the dog, and 
saw him feed upon that Mureoo whence the dye is supposed 



ORCHELLA. 



223 



to have been obtained. The animals were collected^ the 
robe dyed^ and this labour of Hercules was accom- 
plished. 

The strongest argument in favour of the ancient purple 
of Tyre being derived from the Roccella, is the following 
passage from the Old Testament^ which would seem to infer 
that it was collected on the rocks : — 

Fine linen^ with broidered work from Egypt^ was that 
which thou spreadest forth to be thy sail ; blue and purple 
from the isles of Elishah was that which covered thee/^ — 
Ezekiel xxvii. 7. 

The art of dyeing with these lichens^ lost during the dark 
ages, was not revived until the fourteenth century, when it 
was accidentally discovered, and afterwards practised at Elo- 
rence by a gentleman of birth named Eerro or Fredrigo, who 
from this source derived a princely fortune, and founded a 
family, which from this circumstance bore the name of 
Oricellarii, 

The Orchella-weed of commerce is brought from various 
places, each supplying a distinct species, which com- 
mercially bears the name of the locality. The following 
valuable list from Pereira gives the botanical names : — 



224 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



Angola . 
Madagascar 
Mauritius 
Canary 

Cape de Yerd 
Azores 
Madeira 

South American^ large and round 
y, small and flat . 

Cape of Good Hope . 
Barbary (Mogadore) 



Roccella fuciformis, 

R.fuciformis, 
? 

R, tinctoria, 
R, tinctoria, 
R, tinctoria, 
R, tinctoria Sffuciformis, 
R, tinctoria, 
R,fuciformis, 
R, hypomecha, 
R, tinctoria, 
R, tinctoria. 



Corsican and Sardinian 

The Angola and Lima sorts constitute the bulk of the 
Orchella-weed imported ; it therefore consists principally of 
R, tinctoria (Plate XIII. fig. 69). The colouring matter 
of these lichens varies slightly; that of the Angola weed is 
the best^ and consists of a peculiar vegetable acid called 
erythric ; orsellic acid, of the variety aljjJia (there being 
two sorts), constitutes that of the Lima weed. 

The article known in commerce under the names Archil 
and Orchil is the colouring matter of Orchella-weed in 
solution; it is used for dyeing purple and red. It does 
not produce a fast colour, but so greatly improves other 



MYEOB ALANS. 



225 



colours^ as to be considered indispensable by the dyers; 
nevertheless its consumption has very much decreased of 
late. The imports are about 600 tons per annum. 

Rock Moss. — Under this name we have occasional im- 
ports of another lichen^ Lecanora tartarea (Plate XIII. 
fig. 70). It is used to make the article called Cudbear, 
which is employed in the same way as archil. Cudbear 
however^ besides being in the liquid form^ is dried and 
made into cakes^ called cudbear paste and is also pre- 
served by dipping linen rags to absorb the colour; these 
are then dried^ and form a considerable article of commerce, 

Tisso Elowees. — The dried flowers of Butea frondosa, 
(Nat. Ord. Legtminos(E.) 

These flowers are much used in the East Indies to 
produce beautiful orange and yellow dyes^ and the author 
has seen one importation into Liverpool^ consisting of a 
small parcel introduced experimentally under the name of 
Kessaree flowers, 

Myrobalans (commercially Myraholaws). — The dried 
fruit of Terminalia CJiehula, (Nat. Ord. Comhretacece.) 
(Plate XIII. fig. 68.) 

The Myrobalan is an oval fruit of the shape of a nutmeg, 
but generally twice as large ; they are of a dingy yellow 

Q 



226 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



colour and hard glossy exterior ; the pericarp is rather soft^ 
but the interior albumen is very hard^ and contains a large 
quantity of tannin ; hence it is useful to the tanner as well 
as the dyer^ both of whom use large quantities of this 
product. The surface of the fruit has slight longitudinal 
depressions^ which do not appear on the larger myrobalans. 
The smaller ones^ besides this characteristic^ are pointed at 
each extremity, which makes it probable that more than one 
species is imported in the same lot. 

With alum this dye yields a good durable yellow, and 
with salts of iron a black colour little inferior to that pro- 
duced by oak-galls. The myrobalan has not been intro- 
duced more than ten or eleven years, but so useful has 
it been found, that it has become a very important article 
in our produce markets, and its consumption is now fully 
2000 tons per annum. 

Galls, Gall-Nuts, Oak-Galls, and Nut-Galls, are 
excrescences formed upon the young twigs of the various 
species of oak. Galls are also produced upon other plants, 
but the nut-galls of commerce are produced on the species 
of oak called Quercus infectoriiis, a small shrub about five 
or six feet in height. They originate in the puncture of 
an insect, Cpiijos gallce-tinctoria. The puncture is effected 



GALL NUTS. 



227 



by the ovipositor of tlie insect^ and an egg is at the same 
time deposited ; an interruption in the ordinary functions 
of the tissues of the plant takes place at the spot where 
the egg is inserted ; the consequence is, an excrescence of 
vegetable matter, principally tannin, is formed round the 
egg, and furnishes a nidus for the grub or larva when 
hatched. When this takes place, the grub eats its way 
out through the side of the gall, after which the vitality 
of the excrescence either decreases or ceases altogether. 

Several varieties of galls are distinguished in commerce, 
the principal of which are the blue and white ; the only dif- 
ference is that the former are gathered before the insect has 
escaped, and the latter after it has emerged. The colour of 
the blue galls (Plate XIII. fig. 66) is a slaty-blue, and 
sometimes a greyish- green ; the white gaU (Plate XIII. 
fig. 67) is of a light drab colour and much lighter in 
weight; it is also less valuable than the blue variety. 
Nut-galls are nearly round, with a few small excrescences 
over their surface. They yield a fine black colour, with 
any of the salts of iron, and are used in the preparation of 
writing-ink; the quantity imported is annually about 700 
tons. 

A kind of gall has lately been imported from China; Dr. 



228 



POPULAE ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



Pereira describes it in the Pharmaceutical Journal^ vol. iii.^ 
under the name of Woo-pei-tze ; they are of a very irregular 
shape; more bulky than the common galls^ and hollow, 
the external shell being only about of an inch in thick- 
nesS; very brittle, and of a brownish-yellow colour. Mr. 
Doubleday says the producing insect in this case is one of 
the Aphis tribe ; they are extremely astringent, but have 
probably not yet been used in dyeing. The two next dye- 
stuffs are vegetable extracts. 

Arnotto, Anatto, Anotta. — The pulp extracted from 
the seeds of Bixa Orellana. (Nat. Ord. Flacourtiacece.) 

The seeds of the Bioca are enclosed in a three- valved seed- 
vessel, about an inch in length, and somewhat like the cap- 
sule of the common beech ; it is covered with short hair-like 
prickles, and is of a rich dark brown colour. When the 
valves open, the seeds, ten or twelve in number, are seen 
packed within ; they are about the size of tares^ but rather 
angular, and; being covered with a waxen pulp of a bright 
orange-colour, are not unlike coral beads. This waxen pulp 
is removed from the seeds by washing, and forms the anatto 
of commerce, which usually is of a yellowish-red colour, 
and about the consistency of palm-oil ; this is flag and roll 
anatto. It sometimes in a drier state, made into cakes, 



INDIGO. 



229 



and termed cahe anatto. It gives a fine yellow^ and also 
the nankeen colour, and is much used for colouring 
cheese. The imports are variable; in 1847, 138 tons were 
received, and in 1850 only 72 tons. 

Indigo (Plate XIY. fig. 74). — A peculiar vegetable 
colour, extracted from Indigofera tinctoria (Plate XIV. fig. 
73) and several other species of the same genus (Nat. Ord. 
LeguminoscB) , Various other plants also yield indigo, but ^ 
they do not furnish any portion of that consumed in this 
country. 

This important material was known to the ancients, who 
used it both as a dye and also as a paint. Dioscorides 
called it Ivhiicov, and Pliny Indicum ; the former says, indigo 
comes from the workshops of the dyers, attaching itself to 
the vessels from which it is removed and dried. Pliny 
speaks of another kind which is formed spontaneously like 
a froth upon Indian reeds : the author is of opinion that 
the article here alluded to is the lac dye^ now so exten- 
sivelv used. 

Like many other valuable discoveries of the ancients, the 
use of the indigo was lost to Europe until the middle of 
the sixteenth century. It was introduced by the Dutch, 
who imported it from India, but its use was almost pre- 



230 



POPULAE ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



vented by a strong prejudice which existed against it for a 
considerable time. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth an 
edict was passed prohibiting the use of this dye, which 
was called food for the devil, and this edict was not with- 
drawn until the reign of Charles II. Its use was also 
prohibited, or restricted, in Saxony and France. The pre- 
judice against the use of indigo seems to have arisen from 
the ignorance of the dyers as to the means of fixing the 
colour, so that the cloths, however beautiful to the eye 
when new, became disfigured immediately they were wetted. 
Since however its value became known, its culture, previ- 
ously confined to its native country, India, has spread into 
the West Indies, Mexico, Brazil, Egypt, and other suitable 
places. 

It does not exist as indigo in the plant, but when the 
plant is subjected to a certain process, the blue colour is 
educed. The largest quantity is yielded from the plants 
when in flower, but the finer qualities are produced when 
the flowering has ceased. The process of separating indigo 
from the plant was first accurately described by Jean Bap- 
tiste Labat, a Dominican missionary monk; it is as follows. 

Just before flowering, the plants are cut down and tied 
into bundles about five feet iu circumference \ these are 



INDIGO. 



231 



quickly carried to the factory^ allowing no time for the 
plants to flag and become heated^ as the slightest degree of 
fermentation destroys the indigo. 

These bundles are placed in a vat and tightly pressed 
down by superincumbent weights. Clean water is then ad- 
mit ted^ sufficient to cover the whole. After steeping from 
nine to twelve hours^ the liquid^ which has acquired a yellow 
colour, is drawn off by removing a plug from the bottom of 
the vat. This liquid is received into another vat, where it 
is kept actively stirred and beaten about with bamboos until 
a curious granulation takes place; when this has become 
complete, the granulations settle and the mother-liquor is 
drawn ofP. The blue precipitate is then washed with water, 
and submitted to heat until it appears to effervesce, or 
ferment) as the planters term it. ^It is then placed in 
frames, and submitted to extreme pressure, after which it is 
cut into cakes about two inches square, dried, and packed 
into boxes for exportation. 

The Indigo plant is a shrub from two to three feet high, 
with pinnate leaves, consisting of from four to seven pairs 
of leaflets, which are of an obovate form (that is, oval, with 
the broadest part at the top). The leaves are of a dull 
bluish-green colour on the upper surface, and shghtly pu- 



232 



POPULAll ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



bescent or hairy below ; the young stems have the same pe- 
culiar indigo-green tint. The flowers are pea-shaped^ borne 
in short racemes^ springing from the axils of the leaves; 
they are a pale rose or red colour. Besides IncUgofera tine- 
toria, I, Anil and 7. mndea are much used in the manu- 
facture of indigo; according to Roxburgh, that from the 
last-mentioned plant is the best. Owing to the insolubility 
of indigo in water, the art of dyeing with it consists in a 
very complicated process, so pm^ely technical that it would 
be out of place in a popular work like the present. The 
fine Saxon blue cloths are dyed with this material. 

The principal varieties recognized in commerce are — 
Bengal ; Oude ; ^Manilla ; Madras ; Caraccas ; Spanish 
Floras ; Spanish Sobres ; and Spanish Cortes. The aver- 
age price is about tliree shillings per pound. The enormous 
quantity of 3524 tons of this vegetable extract was imported 
in 1851, but of this quantity more than one-half was sold 
to foreign merchants and re-exported to other countries. 

The colouring matter of Woad {Isatis tmctoria)^ used by 
the ancient Britons, was analogous to indigo. 

Lac Dye in many respects resembles indigo, but, being 
partly an animal product (a secretion of the Zac insect. 
Coccus laced), further notice of it would be out of place 
in this work. 



ALKANET EOOT. 



233 



The substances remaining to be treated of in tliis chapter 
are not strictly dye-stuffs^ but as their chief use is for 
colouring other materials^ they will be most in place if 
classed with dyes. 

x\lkanet Egot. Anchisa tmctoria. (Nat. Ord. Bora 
ginacem,) 

The AncJmsa is a weedy^ diffuse plants rarely attaining a 
foot in height ] it however forms long woody roots^ which 
contain the colouring principle. It is much cultivated in 
the south of France and some portions of Germany. Its 
chief use is in giving a fine crimson colour to oils used in 
perfumery, and in dyeing wood in imitation of rosewood. 
Tor this purpose the colour is separated by soaking the root 
in oil, and the wood is rubbed with the coloured oil until it 
is rendered sufficiently dark. About eight to ten tons are 
annually imported, chiefly from France and Germany. 

Deagon^s Blood. — Under this name several resins are 
found in commerce, which have a similar appearance, that 
is, a fine dark cinnabar or Indian-red colour, resinous lustre, 
and are inodorous and tasteless. They are produced by one 
or two species of Calamus, or cane-palm, and are used for 
colouring varnishes and particularly for dyeing horn so as 
to imitate tortoiseshell. 



234 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



The commercial varieties are distinguished according to 
the form in which they are imported. They are thus 
named : — 

1. Dragon's blood in the reed, or Stick Dragon^s Blood; 
in sticks about eighteen inches in lengthy wrapped in a 
piece of palm-leaf and bound with very thin strips of rattan 
cane. It is supposed to be produced from the berries of 
Calamus draco, 

2. Dragon's Blood in drops or heads, — This variety is in 
small pieces about the size and shape of a nutmeg ; a num- 
ber of these are laid lengthwise in a strip of palm-leaf, 
which is rolled round them, they are then tied with a string 
between each mass, so that the whole resembles a string of 
beads. We have the authority of Rumphius for stating 
that this also is procured from the fruit of C, draco, 

3. Dragon's Blood in tears. — This occurs in loose rounded 
lumps, varying in size from a pea to a swanks egg, and 
there is some reason for believing that it is furnished by the 
fruit of Calamus Eotang (Plate YIII. fig. 39). 

4. Dragon's Hood in lump, — A very inferior article, which 
is probably the refuse of the more carefully prepared sorts 
kneaded in masses, which afterwards are broken into the 
irregularly shaped pieces in which we receive it. 



GAMBOGE. 



235 



The quantity imported of all the varieties is bat small^ 
and usually comes from the East Indies; it is produced 
chiefly in the Indian Archipelago. There are two or three 
similar secretions called Dragon^s Bloody but these are 
rarely met with. One is produced from the curious Dragon- 
tree, Draccena draco, a plant of the same order as the lilies 
[Liliacecs) ; another from the Pterocar^us draco, a papilio- 
naceous tree, allied to that producing the red saunders-wood 
above described. The imports in 1850 were 117 packages, 
or about six tons. 

Gamboge.— A gummy and slightly resinous exudation 
from the young wood of the Gamboge-tree {Hehradendron 
camhogioides, Nat. Ord. Clusiacece). (Plate XIV. fig. 75.) 

Though decidedly not a dye-stuff, this material is much 
used in colouring, forming a valuable water-colour; and 
is also used in colouring lacquer varnish for brass-work. 
There is some reason to believe that gamboge is made from 
more than one species. It was first introduced to Europe 
in 1603, by Admiral Van Neck, who brought it from 
China under its eastern name oi'Ghittaierriou, 

There are three kinds of gamboge : — 

1. Pipe Gamboge, which is the best; it comes from Siam 
in rolls about an inch and a half in diameter and sometimes 



236 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



a foot in lengthy through which there is a hole half an 
inch in diameter. It has been conjectured that this is from 
Garcinia CochincJiinensis, 

3. Lump Gamboge, in masses, having the appearance of 
a hardened yellow paste in lumps of one or two pounds' 
weight ; this is known to be produced from Hehradendron 
camhogioides, 

3. Gamboge in Tears. — This is in drops called tears, said 
to be produced from the same species as the last, but the 
truth of this is much disputed. 

Besides its use as a colouring material, gamboge is much 
used in medicine as a drastic purgative. 

We now take leave of the articles employed in tanning 
and dyeing ; but before we proceed further it would be well 
to take a retrospective glance at the materials which have 
been described. 

Rough and unattractive to the eye, they nevertheless 
afford the means of rendering more durable and beautiful 
those materials of which our useful and decorative apparel 
is manufactured. Crude and unpromising they all are to 
the uninitiated eye, and their value is only shown when 
the inventive genius of man is brought to bear upon them. 



DYE-STUFFS. 



237 



Man protects his feet from cold and other injuries with the 
skins of beasts : in this he follows the example of his most 
remote ancestors; but^ unlike them, his taste is more 
refined, and the multiplicity of his demands renders economy 
necessary ; he therefore taxes the giant oak, the acacia, the 
mangrove, and other vegetables, to furnish him a chemical 
agent whereby the offensiveness of the skins he uses is 
destroyed, and their tendency to decay arrested. He wears 
his garments of hemp, flax, and cotton, and strives to rival 
the flowers of the field by fixing their tints on his fabrics : in 
this he fails, — these colours are as evanescent as the flowers 
that yielded them. His thinking mind is taxed to remedy 
the evil, and triumphant intellect leads him forth and 
points out more suitable materials ; he collects them, and 
adapts them to his purpose. 

Could an intelligent mind look with one eye upon any 
of the glittering pageants of the fashionable world, and with 
the other upon a store of dye-stuffs, what strange reflec- 
tions would arise ! Could it be imagined that all those 
brilliant colours were derived from such a source? — that 
those warm and bright tints of red, crimson, and purple, 
rivalling the rainbow, were derived from the ugly piles of 
gnarled billets and blocks of Ccesalpinias, etc., cut with 



238 



POPULAE ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



immense labour in tropical forests and transported at im- 
mense cost to our shores? Look again at the dingy 
madder^ munjeet, and yellow-berries^ and who could 
imagine that the bright charming colours produced to 
please the eye of taste are drawn from such sources ? Once 
more^ look at the rock-weed^ without an appearance of 
colour beyond a dirty drab tint^ yielding nevertheless a 
purple fit for the adornment of princes. How true it is 
that industry works its own reward^ and that the Creator 
has. given to man an inexhaustible treasury from which he 
may draw all that his wants and luxuries require ; exacting 
only in return — lalour — as the penalty of the first trans- 
gression. 



239 



CHAPTER X. 

GUMS USED IN THE ARTS. 

The term Gum is applied to a variety of articles extremely 
different in character ; properly speaking it applies only to 
those natural exudations which, when solidified by drying, 
are capable of being redissolved by water. They are often 
transparent, and are more or less coloured, the tint varying 
from white to reddish-brown. 

When insoluble in water, but soluble in alcohol, they 
bear the name of Gum-resins ; and if soluble in oil or spirit 
of turpentine they are Resins, Besides these, under the same 
chapter we must describe the elastic gum. India-rubber, 
and the anomalous product Gutta-percha. 

Of the true Gums there are but a few sorts found in 
commerce ; they may be all comprised under three heads — 



240 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



Gum Arabic, Gum Senegal, and Gum Tragacantli. The 
first, 

Gum Aeabic, exudes from Acacia Arahica (Nat. Ord. 
Leguminos^e) and other species. 

The trees producing the varieties of this gum are abun- 
dant in the East Indies, Egypt, Arabia, and Senegal. The 
gum was well known to the ancients, and the acacia- tree 
is supposed to be the SJiittah and SJiittim-iYte spoken of 
in Scripture (Isaiah xii. 19, Exodus, Leviticus, and other 
books). Most of the species of Acacia growing in warm 
countries produce gum, and the different qualities of 
gum are produced on the same species ; indeed gum arable 
appears to be a special product of the genus Acacia, and 
tlie gum oozes out more or less pure from the same tree, 
and from different species indiscriminately. It is gathered 
without reference to quality, and afterwards sorted. Of that 
called gum araiic, par excellence, there are three leading 
sorts, — ^ Mect,^ or the finest white gum ; the common gum 
arabic, which is yellow and reddish ; and gum siftings, 
which consist of the very small particles of both the other 
sorts separated from the. finer pieces by sifting. 

The following are the permanent varieties which are re- 
cognized in commerce : — 



AFRICAN GUMS. 



241 



ArEiCAN Gums : — 

1. Gum Arabic^ — produced chiefly from Acacia vera and 
Acacia Arahica. The ^Elect^ and ^ Common^ sorts are in 
tears^ or hardened drops^ varying in size from a pea to that 
of a pigeon^s egg^ and in colour from a dull white to dark 
amber. Imported principally from Barbary and Turkey. 

2. Barbary Gum. — This is uniformly a dark-coloured 
variety^ resembling the common gum arabic ; it is much 
valued by confectioners for various purposes. It also comes 
from Northern Africa^ chiefly from Mogadore. Supposed to 
be produced by A, gummifera, 

3. Gum Gedda. — A reddish variety of Barbary gum. 

4. Gum Senegal, — produced partly by A, Senegal and 
partly by A, SeyaL This gum is in fine large roundish 
tears, or, occasionally, worm-like masses ; the largest round 
tears are the size of pigeons^ eggs, clear and transparent, 
with sometimes a slight pink tinge discernible. The external 
surface is dull and slightly wrinkled from drying, but in- 
ternally this gum is very clear and transparent ; it is much 
prized by the manufacturers for dressing silks, crapes, etc., 
and realizes high prices. It originally came only from Se- 
negal, whence its name, but it is now found at most of the 
African ports from Senegal to the Cape of Good Hope. 

E 



243 



POPULAE ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



Indian Gums : — 

5. East India Gum^ — a very dark variety^ seldom lighter 
in colour than the darkest pieces of Barbary gum. It is gene- 
rally supposed to be produced by A. Arahica ; but it has 
been suggested that it is the produce of a totally different 
plants Feronia elephankm, a plant of the Orange tribe 
{Aurantiaced) . 

6. Gum Babool^' — an inferior variety of the above. This 
gum is in very irregularly shaped pieces^ appearing to consist 
of a number of small round tears joined together; its colour 
is very dark reddish-brown j it is tough and cannot easily be 
powdered. It is from Bengal. 

7. Gum Gattie^ — a finer gum than either of the above^ 
produced by the A, Arahica, in the Deccan, Concan^ and 
Guzerat. It is largely imported into London. 

8. Gum Oomrawattee^ — another variety, of very indiffer- 
ent quality, from the province of Oomrawattee. 

All the East Indian gums are dark-coloured and trans- 
lucent; they are tough, and strongly resemble the gum 
which oozes from the cherry-trees of this country. 

The gums described are compounds of the two principles 
amhin and hassorin. The former is easily soluble in cold 
water ; the latter is softened and swells in cold water^ which 



GUM TRAGACANTH, 



343 



it absorbs largely^ but is insoluble; the finest qualities 
contain more of the former^ and the inferior more of the 
latter principle. 

The quantity imported of all of the above kinds of gum 
is very considerable; in 1850^ 1984 tons^ of which 328 
tons were Gum Senegal. These gums are chiefly used by 
the manufacturers of silks^ crapes^ muslins, etc., for the 
purpose of stiffening and glazing their fabrics ; there are 
besides various other economic purposes to which they are 
applied. Gum arabic is said to be so nutritious as food, 
that the Arabs who gather this gum almost support them- 
selves with it during the harvest. 

Gum TfiAGACANTH, or Gum Deagon. — An exudation 
from the stems of two or three species of Astragalus, 
another genus of the Natural Order Legiminosm, 

Tragacanth was known to the ancients, and was by them 
called TpwycLKavOa ; it does not form in tears like the gums 
previously described, but forms in flakes, which have the 
appearance of paste forced through narrow splits in the 
bark. It is white and opake, and the flakes have a curled 
and twisted appearance. 

The best tragacanth is said, upon good authority, to be 
the produce of Astragalus gummifer, a native of Koordistan ; 



244 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



it is quite white and free from impurities. The ordinary 
kinds, which we receive from Turkey, are produced in Asia 
Minor and Northern Persia by the A. vems ; and the 
inferior kinds, which are less flaky, being often in worm- 
shaped fragments and irregular tears, and generally of a 
ferruginous colour, are produced by A, strohiliferus. 

These plants are small shrubs, with clusters of small 
yellow pea-shaped flowers ; they are either terminal (that is, 
growing at the ends of the branches), or produced in the 
axils of the leaves (axillary), which are pinnate, with five or 
six leaflets ; the branches are covered with the remains of 
the petioles of the leaves, which gives them a rough spiny 
appearance. 

The singular appearance the flakes of this gum present, 
has been explained by De Candolle as the result of a 
peculiar property, possessed by some portions of the stem 
more than others, of absorbing moisture from the atmo- 
sphere ; this property is termed hygrometric. It acts thus : — 
The tragacanth is a natural secretion of the plant, which is 
formed by the bark and albumen ; it consists of arabin, the 
soluble principle of gum, and a large quantity of the in- 
soluble principle, called bassorin. In the damp state of the 
atmosphere, which is often produced by the heavy mists 



GUM KUTEERA. 



245 



which hang upon the hills where the Astragalus grows^ the 
highly absorbent wood takes in the moisture so as to swell 
considerably^ thereby exercising a great degree of pressure 
upon the bark, which does not give way in proportion to 
the swelling of the wood, in consequence of which its fluid 
contents are pressed out, and solidify by drying. 

Tragacanth is much valued by our manufacturers of 
crape: its stiffening qualities are very superior, both the 
brittleness and glossiness of the Acacia gums being absent 
in tragacanth. The supply is very limited, the imports 
rarely exceeding 30 tons per annum. 

Gum Kuteera, produced by StercuUa mens (Nat. Ord. 
Sterculiace^e) , resembles Tragacanth, and has been im- 
ported to this country from Coromandel and used as a 
substitute; it was formerly much used, but has lately be- 
come rare. 

Sierra Leone Tragacanth is the produce of another species 
of StercuUa, S, Tragacantha ; it is named thus from the 
strong resemblance of its exudation to the genuine traga- 
canth. It is rarely imported. 

Gum Bassora. — This, as its name implies, is received 
from Bassora ; it consists chiefly of the principle bassorin, to 
which its name has been given. It is in ii-regularly shaped 



246 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



pieces^ variable in size^ opake^ and generally of a light 
sherry-brown colour. It has been conjectured that a species 
of Mesembryanthemum yields this gum^ but most probably 
this is an error; we are however totally ignorant of its 
origin. It is only an occasional import. 

The Gum-resins and Eesins used in the arts are not very 
numerous^ and one of them (Dragon^ s Blood) has already 
been described in the previous chapter; the principal 
are — 

CoPAL; which is of various kinds^ yielded by different 
trees in Africa and South America, the East Indies, and 
Australia. 

Brazilian Copal is produced by plants of the Natural 
Order LegiiminoscB, chiefly by some species of Hymenma, 
and by Tracliylohium Martianum, It is in large angular 
pieces, often as large as a hen^s egg, very transparent, and 
of a light yellow colour. 

African Copal is also in large fragments of rounded tears, 
or masses ; it is darker in colour than that from Brazil, and 
less transparent, often having a reddish-yellow colour and 
dusty surface. It is supposed to be produced from a species 
of Hymencea ; but there are evidently different sorts of 
African Copal. 



COPAL. 



247 



East Indian Copal^ more generally called Gum Anime^ is 
supposed to be the produce of HymencEa CourhariL It is 
in large-sized pieces^ often almost square^ and long ; some 
specimens in the Author^ s collection are about four inches 
in length, and as regular in shape as a square stick of 
sealing-wax; others are in long flat pieces, two or three 
inches in length, an inch and a half wide, and a quarter of 
an inch thick ; they are curiously marked all over with very 
slight indentations, giving the surface a stippled appearance. 
Generally however East Indian Copal is in irregular masses, 
having considerable transparency and a bright amber 
colour. 

Australian Copal, Kawrie Gum, Australian Dammar, is 
the produce of Lammam australis (Nat. Ord. Coniferce), 
(Plate XIX. fig. 99.) — Large quantities of this gum-resin 
are now imported from Australia. It is probably in larger 
masses than any other gum-resin ; a specimen in the Liver- 
pool Collection of Imports measures nearly two feet round 
at its largest circumference, it is as large as a child^s head ; 
the colour is a dull amber. 

All the species of Copal strongly resemble amber ; like it 
they also frequently contain insects and other extraneous 
matters; and it is highly probable they are the origin of 



24cS 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



that much-valued fossil resin. They are extensively used 
in the manufacture of varnish^ for which purpose they are 
dissolved in alcohol or turpentine. Nearly 300 tons were 
imported in 1852^ chiefly from Africa and Australia. 

Gum Mastic. — The produce of Pistacia Lentismis, (Nat. 
Ord. Anacardiacece.) 

This plant and its resin were known to the ancients under 
the name of ScJimos {o-ylvo^), and was supposed to have 
many medicinal virtues. Gum Mastic is in small round 
or ovoid tears^ rarely larger than a pea^ and often slightly 
flattened ; they- have a light yellow colour, and are only 
slightly transparent. Mastic has a sweet, resinous smell, 
and on that account is much used by the Turkish ladies, 
who chew it to sweeten the breath and preserve the gums. 
The bush which produces it is a native of Ohio, the south 
of Europe, and Northern Africa ; it is procured by cutting 
the bark transversely, upon which the mastic exudes in 
tears, and either hardens upon the tree, or falls to the 
ground; that w4iich falls constitutes an inferior quality. 
It is principally used in making varnish, for varnishing 
pictures, etc., upon paper and canvas ; dentists also employ 
it in filling hollow teeth. About ten or twelve tons are 
annually imported, chiefly from the Levant. 




97. T-urpexLtuLe Tree. 98. Caiia3.a Ealsam_. 99. G-toil dLaitunar 
100. Tax fcPitck W. 101. Jumper . 



GUM JUNIPER. 



249 



Gum Juniper^ or Gum Sandarach. — This Gum is pro- 
duced by Callitris quadrivalvis, called the Arar-tree in 
Barbary (Nat. Ord. Conifem), 

It is from the wood of this tree that the Turks form the 
ceilings and floors of their mosques^ it being considered by 
them almost indestructible. The gum is in long thin tears, 
rarely exceeding half an inch in length, and one-sixteenth 
of an. inch in thickness; it is not unlike mastic, but is 
whiter, and has a more resinous and less agreeable odour. 
It is used for making fine varnishes, and formerly was much 
used in manufacturing pounce for writing, which was merely 
powdered sandarach; the invention of blotting-paper has 
however rendered it useless for this purpose. The imports 
are about twelve to fifteen tons annually. 

Turpentine. — An oleo-resin (combination of resin and 
oil) which flows from incisions made in the stems of various 
trees belonging to the Coniferous order. The principal 
are Pimts palustris (Plate XIX. fig. 97) and Finns Tceda, 

These trees furnish the North American turpentine, which 
is now almost the only kind imported. They are found in 
the forests of North Carolina and Yirginia, where amazing 
quantities of turpentine are collected and exported to all 
parts of the world. It reaches us in barrels holding from 



250 POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 

two to two and a half hundredweights^ and has the consis- 
tency and appearance of honey^ sometimes white and some- 
times yellow in colour^ generally much mixed with im- 
purities^ such as fragments of bark^ small twigs^ etc. When 
distilled the turpentine of commerce yields from 14 to 16 
per cent, of a fine colourless essential oil^ usually called 
Spirits of Turpentine ; the residue is the Eosin or Eesin of 
the shops. The economic purposes to which these two pro- 
ducts are applied are very various : the former is essential 
to the manufacture of painty and the latter is much em- 
ployed in the manufacture of common soap, in caulking 
ships, making the common kinds of sealing-wax, and many 
other uses. Rosin is of two kinds, yellow and hrown or 
hlach ; the latter has been called Colophony : the difference 
depends upon the duration of the process of distillation, the 
resin getting darker the longer the heat is continued. The 
quantity of turpentine imported in 1851 was 21,731 tons, 
besides 12,000 gallons of the distilled oil, and 1900 tons 
of rosin. 

There are two or three other products, which are either 
oleo-resins or products of them. — 

Thus, or Phankincense, much used in pharmacy for 
making plaisters, — a turpentine from which most of the 



TAR. 



251 



essential oil has evaporated naturally. Thus, properly speak- 
ings is the turpentine of AUes resince [Conifer a), but the 
hardened American turpentine above mentioned is more 
generally substituted for it. Mixed with perfumed gums, 
it is burned as incense in the performance of Eoman Ca- 
tholic ceremonials. 

Canada Balsam, a clear, transparent oleo-resin, which 
exudes from Alieshalsamea {ConifercB) (Plate XIX. fig. 98) ; 
it is about the thickness of sperm oil, but soon gets less 
fluid ; it is used chiefly for preparing microscopic objects, 
by rendering them transparent, and in making some var- 
nishes. 

Tae is a product procured by a species of distillation 
termed distillation per descensum, from the roots of various 
Coniferous trees, particularly ~Pinus sylvestris (Plate XIX. 
fig. 100). It was known to the ancients, and the mode of 
preparation described by Theophrastus was nearly the same 
as that now employed. A bank is chosen in the forests near 
w^hich the timber is plentiful. In this bank a circular hole 
is made, the sides of which are beaten very hard; at the 
bottom a cast-iron pan, having a spout, is placed ; a tube 
is fitted to the spout, and passes through the side of the 
bank. The large hole is then filled with billets, nicely cu 



POPULAU ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



and packed^ of the wood of the roots of the pine ; the mass 
is then ignited and covered over with soil. Combustion is 
thus carried on very slowly^ and the tar which distils runs 
down the sides into the iron pan, and is given off through 
the spout, from which it is received into barrels. Nearly 
all the tar we receive from abroad is from Russia and Nor- 
way. In 1851 it amounted to 12,096 lasts measure, or 
about 24,000 tons weight. Tar is about the colour and 
consistency of treacle, and is used chiefly for the purpose 
of preserving cordage and wood from the effects of the 
atmosphere. 

Pitch is procured by distillation from tar, in the same 
manner as rosin from turpentine. It is a black, solid, and 
glossy substance, with a brittle, shining fracture ; it is used 
for similar purposes to tar, with which it is often mixed, 
and also for caulking the seams of vessels ; it was well 
known to the ancients. The pitch used in this country is 
mostly home-manufactured. Natural evaporation of the 
volatile portions of tar will of course convert that product 
into pitch. 

AsPHALTE is fossil pitch. 

The two next substances, though they are not, strictly 
speaking, gums or resins, are nevertheless inspissated juices 



INDIA-EUBBER. 



253 



procured from trees^ in the same way as the turpentines. 
They have many peculiar properties^ rendering them totally 
distinct from the products already described in this chapter. 
The first is — 

India-Rubbee, Gum Elastic^ or Caoutchouc. — This 
now well-known substance is derived from various plants, 
but that which reaches England is almost entirely the pro- 
duce of Siphonia elastica (Nat. Ord. Euphorhiacem) , (Plate 
XYIII. fig. 94.) 

The Siphonia {Hevea of Aublet) is a fine tree^ attaining a 
height of sixty to seventy feet, with a stem clear of branches 
for forty or fifty feet of its height, as round as jf turned, 
with a diameter of about three feet at the base, and lessen- 
ing very gradually; the bark is of a light stone-colour. 
In order to procure the caoutchouc, the natives who collect 
it pierce the stem of the tree with a small pickaxe early in 
the morning ; around this incision they mould soft clay 
in the form of a bowl, into which the juice runs pretty 
freely to the extent of about four ounces daily. They col- 
lect this juice each evening, and smear it over clay moulds of 
bottles, balls, shoes, etc. After each process the moulds thus 
coated are suspended in the smoke of a chimney, where they 
dry and get a black colour. Successive layers are added until 



254 



POPULAU ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



they are of sufficient thickness ; the clay is then washed 
out^ and the caoutchouc is ready for market. 

Tormerly much was sent from British India; it was the 
produce of Ficns elastica (Nat. Ord. Moroxem) ; but this is 
found to be so inferior to that produced by the BraziHan 
India-rubber tree^ that it is almost unsaleable in our 
markets. 

This remarkable vegetable production was first introduced 
in the eighteenth century. "When it was introduced as a 
curiosity from America^ it was in the form of bottles^ birds, 
etc._, and excited considerable attention in consequence of 
its elasticity/ and inflammabihty. At first it was used almost 
solely for rubbing out black-lead pencil marks from paper, 
hence its familiar name. Nothing was known of the plant 
from which it was produced, or the mode of production, 
until an astronomical expedition of French academicians 
went to South America. M. de la Condamine was fortu- 
nate enough to see the caoutchouc prepared, and forwarded 
an account of it to the French Academy in 1763. 

When pure, caoutchouc is very different to the article in 
common use ; instead of black it has a pale yellow colour. 
It arrives in various forms ; the commonest is Bottle India- 
nibher : this variety is in various forms, as bottles, shoes, 



GUTTA-PERCHA. 



255 



models of animals^ balls^ etc. Sheet India-nihher is in flat 
pieces about a foot broad^ two feet long^ and about half an 
inch in thickness ; these pieces are folded lengthwise like 
sheets of paper : it fetches a high price^ and is esteemed 
the most valuable. And Pip^ India-mhher, in tubes a foot 
longj and one inch and a half in diameter. 

The property possessed by caoutchouc of dissolving in 
coal naphtha^ renders it extremely valuable in the arts^ and 
its applications have become extremely numerous. The 
quantity annually imported is less than would be supposed 
from the extent to which it is used; only between 500 and 
600 tons were imported in 1852. 

Gutta-Percha (Plate XYIII. fig. 96) in some of its 
characters strongly resembles caoutchouc ; it is the produce 
of Isonandra Gutta, Hooker^ (Plate XVIII. fig. 95.) 

The Gutta-percha tree is found growing in Singapore, 
Borneo, and other Malay Islands, where it is one of the 
largest timber-trees; its light spongy wood is however of 
little value. The leaves are alternate on the branches, 
somewhat leathery in texture, entire in their outline, and 
obovate in form ; they are green above, and a shining orange 
colour beneath, and are attached by long petioles. The 
flowers are produced in little tuits from the axils of the 



256 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



leaves ; they are small^ each on a distinct peduncle. They 
are tubular or monopetalous flowers, with the tube short, 
and spreading into six elUptical segments. The stamens 
are twelve in number, as long as the segments of the 
corolla ; the pistil is simple, and longer than the stamens. 

At present the mode of procuring the milky juice which 
constitutes the gutta-percha is so destructive, that unless 
the Malays can be taught to use greater care, the gutta- 
percha trees of the Malayan Archipelago will soon be ex- 
terminated. The finest trees are selected and felled, the 
bark stripped off, and the milky juice which is found be- 
tween the bark and wood is collected in small troughs 
made from the stalk of the plantain-leaf; as the juice 
coagulates it is kneaded into cakes for exportation. Each 
tree produces from twenty to thirty pounds of gutta-percha. 
When hardened by exposure to the air, this gum (Plate 
XYIII. fig. 96) has a hgbt brown colour resembling leather, 
a remarkable odour of cheese, and a spongy or cork-like 
texture ; it is mixed with many impurities, which have to 
be separated by softening it in hot water and re-kneading 
it ; this process is termed ''devilling^' by the operators. 

It is imported in blocks of various shapes, but usually in 
square cakes about eighteen inches in length, nine in breadth. 



GUTTA-PEECHA, 



257 



and three inches in thickness. When refined it is more 
compact^ has a darker colour, and^ when rolled, a glossy 
surface ; it is not possessed of the elasticity of caoutchouc, 
but is flexible, and has the remarkable property of being 
ductile and plastic when softened by warmth ; the conse- 
quence is, it can be made to take any form, which it retains 
with extraordinary sharpness of outline when cold. Its 
applications are almost innumerable ; perhaps the most use- 
ful has been the coating of the wires of the submarine tele- 
graph, for which, from its perfect non-conducting property, 
it is most admirably adapted. Dr. Montgomerie was the 
first to bring Gutta-percha into notice, and the following 
extract from his account in the ^ Magazine of Sciences,^ fbr 
1845, has much interest. ^^I may not claim the actual 
discovery of gutta-percha, for, though quite unknown to 
Europeans, a few inhabitants of certain parts of the Malay 
forests were acquainted with it. Many of their neighbours 
residing in the adjacent native villages had never heard of it. ^ 
It was occasionally employed to make handles for parangs, 
instead of wood or buffalo-horn. So long ago as 1822, 
when assistant-surgeon at Singapore, I was told of gutta- 
percha in connection with caoutchouc. There are three va- 
rieties of this substance — GuUa Gireh^ Gutta Ttthan, and 

s 



258 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



Guita PercJia (the ch in the latter being pronounced as in 
perch,, a fish). The name is pure Malayan; Gutta meaning 
the gum or concrete juice of the plants and Percha the 
particular tree from which it is obtained. I could not help 
tliinking that the tree itself must exist in Sumatra, and per- 
haps derive its name from thence, the Malayan name for 
Sumatra being Pulo Percha ; but though the Straits of 
Malacca are situated only one degree to the north of Sin- 
gapore, I could not find that the substance has ever been 
heard of there or in Sumatra."'^ 

The imports of this article have increased very rapidly ; 
they amounted last year (1852) to nearly 1000 tons. 

Many other gums and resins are imported, but of those 
undescribed in this chapter the greater part are used in 
pharmacy, and consequently belong to the chapter on 
Materia Medica, where a description of some of the most 
interesting will be found. 



259 



CHAPTER XI. 

OILS, OIL-SEEDS, ETC. 

The oleaginous products of plants may be divided into 
three distinct divisions : — those which are solid at the ordi- 
nary temperature of our climate ; those which are liquid ; 
and those which are liquid and volatile. It is almost im- 
possible to estimate the value of this class of products, their 
uses are so numerous and extensive. The African, under 
the burning tropics, collects a vegetable butter which is of 
vast importance to railway locomotion ; and the same article 
enters into the manufacture of soap, the consequent cheap- 
ness of which has doubtless exercised immense influence 
upon the sanatory condition of our poorer classes. India 
sends us another vegetable fat, which also enters into the 
composition of cheap soap, but is more used for making 



260 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



stearine candles and marine soap. Southern Europe sends 
a sweet vegetable oil^ the use of which renders our woollen 
cloths more durable and beautiful ; and the essential oils, 
which are collected in many parts of the world, enable us to 
communicate the odour and flavour of the most admired plants 
to food, confectionery, medicine, and perfumery. All oils 
naturally formed consist of two other oils, one solid, stea- 
rine ; the other fluid, oleine or elaine. In some vegetable 
oils the mixture of the two is owing to the temperature, any 
decrease of which precipitates the solid from the fluid ; as, 
for instance, w^hen olive oil is acted upon by cold. Oleine 
and stearine are oxides of a peculiar substance called by 
chemists glyceryUy from its liquorice-like sweetness ; in other 
words, oleine consists of an acid called oleic acid, and this 
sweet substance glyceryle, whilst stearine is a compound of 
stearic acid and glyceryls This peculiar composition of 
oils, both animal and vegetable, leads to their great value 
in the formation of soaps, the process of which consists in 
combining either soda or potash with the stearic and oleic 
acids; this is easily effected, as the acids have a greater 
affinity for the alkalies than for the glyceryle. The solid 
vegetable fats are— 



PALM OIL. 



261 



Palm Oil, — Principally produced from the fruit of the 
Palm Elais Guineensis. (Nat. Ord. PaMacece,) (Plate 
VIIT. fig. 42.) It is also produced by another species 
of Elais, E, melanococca. 

The fruit of the Elais Gtiineensis forms an immense head, 
resembling a monstrous pine-apple ; it consists of a great 
number of drupes of a bright orange-yellow colour ; these 
drupes have a thin external skin [ejpicarp), through which 
the yellow oily pulp {sarcocarp) is seen ; in this is the hard 
stone {endocarp), which occupies about one-fourth of the 
whole bulk of the drupe, the sarcocarp constituting nearly 
all the remaining portion, of which two-thirds are oil or 
palm butter. 

Palm oil is of a beautiful deep orange-yellow colour, be- 
coming lighter by exposure to the air and light ; it has a 
sweet violet odour when fresh. Besides oleine, it consists 
of a distinct principle called palmitine, taking the place of 
ordinary stearine, of which probably it is only a variety. 

When we reflect that palm oil is used in Africa as butter 
by the natives, over an immense and thickly populated 
portion of that continent, the quantity imported into this 
country is really astounding, and gives us an idea of the 
prolific nature of these palms, greater than we could other- 



262 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY, 



wise have conceived. Let us take a glance at its uses : 
firsts in its native country it furnishes^ under the name of 
gliea (butter)^ a portion of the food of the natives, probably 
not less than a million and a half in number ; then in our 
own and other countries it forms a moiety of the antifric- 
tional compound which gives safety to the wheels of every 
railway-carriage : these (according to Mr. Braithwaite Poole, 
probably the best authority in the kingdom) are in our 
country no less than 108,284 in number, representing a 
capital of £15,657,890 ; wt may then double this for the 
whole of the European railways, and without exaggeration 
may affirm that palm oil assists the motion of railway car- 
riages so numerous as to be worth in round numbers 
£32,000,000 ; besides which it forms a large proportion of 
one-third at least of the common hard soap manufactured 
in this country, or in figures, one of the principal con- 
stituents of 17,800 tons of hard soap. These results show 
to what an extent European enterprise has stimulated the 
industry of the negroes of Africa, furnishing them with a 
trade more lucrative than the demoniacal traffic which pre- 
viously constituted their chief occupation. The numbers 
employed in collecting the fruit, in pressing the berries, and 
in conveying the oil to the coast merchants, must be im- 



COCOA-NUT OIL. 



263 



inense, and the tiaie cannot be far distant^ if nature con- 
tinues her beneficence^ when labour will be so much wanted 
on the coast of Africa that the sale of human beings will 
be no longer possible. The imports of palm oil to England 
alone are nearly 50^000 tuns per annum. 

The Oil Palm^ besides this palm butter, yields a limpid 
oil from the hard stony endocarp ; very little of the oil has 
been imported, but under the name of palm-nuts, these 
seeds have been -brought to this country, for expression of 
the oil, in considerable quantities. 

Cocoa-nut or Coker-nut Oil — is another solid vege- 
table fat, produced by the Cocoa-nut Palm [Cocos nucifera), 
(Plate IX. fig. 44.) 

This fat is expressed from the white albumen of the cocoa- 
nut kernel ; it is as white as lard and rather harder, having 
a peculiar odour, which is not very agreeable, or rather it 
becomes very disagreeable if often smelled, even to those 
who at first did not dislike it, otherwise it would be much 
more extensively used both in soaps and pomatums ; in the 
former it is sometimes used for the very coarse kinds, and 
also for marine soap ; it is chiefly used for making cocoa 
stearine (or cocinine), of which excellent candles are manu- 



a64 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



factured. The imports in 1851 were 4902 tons^ almost 
the whole of which came from Manilla and Ceylon. 
The fluid oils used in manufacturing processes are — 
Olive Oil — expressed^ or otherwise obtained^ from the 
fruit of the common Olive [Olea Eitropcea, K'at. Ord. Olea- 
ced). (Plate IV. fig. 16.) 

The olive had abeady been described in the chapter on 
fruits^ therefore the oil now only remains to be described. 
It is a fine thin fluid, varying in colour from a light green to 
a pale straw-colour ; when exposed to a temperature but 
little below the average in this country, its stearine sepa- 
rates and falls down in white flocculent masses; and the 
whole of it congeals at the freezing-point of water. It is 
generally obtained by expression in a rude mill, consisting 
of a large conical mass of stone with an axis of wood, to 
which a horse is attached. The pressing stone revolves 
upon a circular stone platform, around which is cut a small 
groove ; as the olives are crushed, the oil runs into the groove, 
from which it is conducted into vessels placed to receive it. 
It varies very mnch in quality, from the fine Lucca Oil 
used in salads, to the almost rancid Spanish kinds, which 
are used for oiling machinery. The chief use of olive oil is 
in dressing woollen cloths. "We receive it in great quantities 



ALMOND OIL. 



265 



from Galipoli^ in the Neapolitan dominions^ Sicily, Spain, 
Portugal, for manufacturing and machinery purposes ; and 
the finer table-kinds from Florence, Leghorn, Lucca, Genoa, 
and the South of France. In 1851, 20,783 tuns, of 252 
gallons each, were imported. 

Almond Oil is obtained by expression from the sweet 
and bitter Almond {Amygdalus comiminis, varieties a and ^) . 
It is a beautiful clear straw-coloured oil, inclining to yellow ; 
its chief use is in perfumery and for lubricating the machi- 
nery of clocks, watches, and other small pieces of mecha- 
nism. It is very rarely imported, being principally ex- 
pressed in this country. 

Rape Oil is expressed from the seeds of the Rape 
{Brassica Napits, Nat. Ord. Cricciferce), — This oil is rather 
browner and darker than olive oil, but when refined is 
nearly as limpid ) it is much used for burning in lamps, 
especially in France. We imported 107,029 quarters of 
rape-seed, and about 300 tuns of the oil, in 1851, chiefly 
from France and Germany. 

Seed Oil. — Under this name a large quantity, amount- 
ing now to nearly 1000 tuns per annum, of a fine odour- 
less oil, resembling rape-oil, of a sherry-brown colour, is 
imported into Liverpool from Lisbon. It is expressed 



266 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



from the nuts or seeds of Jatropha Curcas (Nat. Ord. Eu- 
phorbiacece) , a plant closely allied to the Croton^ so cele- 
brated for its medicinal oil : it was first used in Lisbon by 
the contractor for lighting the public streets^ who made it 
from a quantity of the seeds brought from the Cape de 
Y erd Islands. So useful was it found as an oil for burning, 
that eventually it took the place of every other, and the 
streets of that capital are now wholly lighted with seed oil, 
a name given for the purpose of hiding its real origin. The 
widow of the above-mentioned contractor now carries on a 
large trade in this oil, and it has been found to answer in 
this country for cloth-dressing, which, in consequence of 
the irregular supply of olive oil, makes it a very valuable 
acquisition. The only objection to its employment in the 
factories is its highly drastic property, which renders its 
use somewhat inconvenient amongst ignorant and careless 
workpeople, who are apt to taste the oils they use while 
working. 

The Jatropha seeds are about half an inch in length, of a 
slightly flattened oval figure, of a dull brown, sometimes 
almost black colour. Their first import into Liverpool, 
under the name of Croton nuts, led to much mischief ; the 
persons employed in the unlading, misled by the term nut, 



TEEL SEED. 



267 



finding them sweet to the taste^ ate them^ until they pro- 
duced a distressing illness ; numbers of poor children also 
suffered from finding them upon the quays^ and many were 
taken to the hospitals in consequence. The nuts are only 
imported occasionally. 

Linseed. — The seed of Linum usitatissimum (Nat. Ord. 
Linacece.) — This plant was described under the name of 
Flax. Linseed oil is not often imported^ but the seed, 
which is small, flat, oval, and of a shining bright brown 
colour, is imported in very large quantities; in 1851 the 
imports were 608,986 quarters, the greater part of which 
was from the East Indies and Eussia ; smaller quantities 
were received from Prussia, Germany, I^gyp^> America. 

Teel Seed, Til Seed, Gingely or Gingillie Seed, 
Sesamum Seed, and Bennie Seed. — Under these various 
names we receive the seed of Sesamum orientale (Nat. Ord. 
Pedaliacece), Its oil, owing to the readiness with which 
it becomes rancid, is seldom or never imported, but large 
quantities of the seed are brought from the East Indies, 
Egypt, Africa, and occasionally from Brazil. The plant 
thrives everywhere in the tropics, and is largely cultivated 
all through India, where its oil is much esteemed; it is 
clear, limpid, and when fresh, as sweet as almond oil. The 



268 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



seeds are about the size of linseed^ but though flattened and 
ovalj they are not thin at the edges like that seed ; their 
colour is of various shades from ash-grey to deep brown; 
the oil contained in them is in very large proportion. 

Niger Seed is the produce of Guizotia oleifera; the 
Verhesina sativa of Lessing^ (Nat. Ord. Compositce) This 
is another oil-seed from India^ where it is very extensively 
cultivated. In that country the oil is variously named in 
different localities^ as Eam4il^ Kala-til, Noog, Valisaloo 
noonse^ etc. ; it is very thin^ contains but little stearine^ and 
is useful in paintings and various other purposes requiring 
a very thin oil. 700 or 800 quarters is about the greatest 
amount of the seed received here in one year. The oil has 
not been imported. 

Carthamus Seed. — The seeds of the Safl&ower plant, 
Carthamus tinctorius (Nat. Ord. Compositd), These seeds 
are about the size of small sunflower seeds, exactly the same 
shape, and of a cream-white colour. In India, from whence 
they come, the oil is expressed in large quantities, under the 
name of Koosim OiL Considerable imports of the seed 
have been received, and the oil is said to be in great de- 
mand for making fancy soaps, but the Koosum oil has 
never been imported. 



POPPY SEED. 



269 



Mustard Seed. — The seed of a species of Mustard, Si- 
napis glaiica (Nat, Ord. Cmciferm), is very largely imported 
from the East Indies for the expression of oil; it is a small, 
round, brown seed, very closely resembling rape-seed ; it is 
probably mixed with other species, as 8, Toria and S, nigra, 
natives of the East Indies. 

Cotton Seed. — The seeds of Gossypnm herhaceum 
(Nat. Ord. Malvacece) are often imported for expressing; 
the oil they yield is used as a substitute for olive oil. 
Cotton-seeds are about the size of small peas, of a deep brown 
colour ; they are usually loose, but sometimes come just as 
they are taken from the capsules, that is, they are held in 
kidney-shaped clusters, four of which, with the cotton, occupy 
each capsule; each cluster contains aboufc ten seeds. The 
imports have hitherto been small, and always from the United 
States of America. 

Poppy Seed [Pajoaver somniferum, Nat. Ord. Papave- 
racece) is often imported from India and the European 
Continent ; the oil expressed from it is so bland and sweet, 
as to equal the finest produce of the olive. In France, 
where it was first introduced, poppy-seed oil was subjected 
to a prohibitory decree, owing to the mistaken idea, t*hat, 
being derived from the same poppy-heads that yield opium. 



270 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



it must necessarily be poisonous. Since this fallacy has 
been exposed^ and the prohibition removed^ poppy-oil has 
been much used in Prance as a substitute for olive oil, both 
in the manufactures and for table use ; and latterly several 
imports of the oil have been received in this country. 

Ground Nut. Arachis liypogea, (Nat. Ord. Legumi- 
nos(E,) (Plate YI. fig. 31.) Large consignments of this 
seed are from time to time received from the African coast 
for the expression of oil. The produce is a fine thin straw- 
coloured oil^ resembling poppy oil and the finer varieties of 
oil of olives. The oil itself has been imported occasionally, 
but in small quantities. It is very free from stearine, and 
is consequently used extensively by watch-makers and others 
for delicate machinery. In India its use in cooking and 
for the table is very extensive; it is there called Katchung 
Oil. 

Several other seeds are used for the expression of their 
oil ; thus, the common Hazel-nut, CoryUis Avellana, which 
yields a fine limpid oil, so free from stearine, that it is pre- 
ferred before all others for watch machinery. Its value in 
this respect can hardly be too highly rated, for independent 
of its perfect liquidity, it is slow in drying, consequently 
requiring only an occasional renewal. To this quality 



BEN NUTS. 



271 



probably one-half of tlie value of our watches is owing^ for 
without such a means of diminishing the friction^ the 
delicate machinery would soon be disordered by injurious 
w^earing of the pinions, axles of the wheels, and other 
rapidly moving parts. ' 

Ben Nuts, called in France Pois queniques and Chicot, are 
also imported from the East Indies, and yield an oil which 
is highly prized by painters in consequence of its fine limpid 
and rapid-drying qualities. It is the seed of Moringia ptery- 
gosperma, a small tree of rather anomalous character. In 
consequence of its leguminous-looking capsules and doubly 
pinnated foliage, it was referred by De Candolle and others 
to the Natural Order LeguminoscB ; but it has been demon- 
strated by Mr. Robert Brown and others, that it is totally 
distinct from that Order : that eminent botanist constituted 
the Order Moringea for this small group of plants ; but as 
the terminology of Dr. Lindley has been generally adopted 
in this work, Monngace<2 will be the most proper name for 
the Natural Order. The Ben-nuts are somewhat larger 
than horse-beans ; they are nearly round, inclining to oval, 
with a slight flattening on two sides. Their colour is a 
light ash-grey, with a polished shining porcelain appearance. 
They are of rare occurrence in our markets. 



272 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



The Essential Oils differ materially from the fixed 
oils already described^ both in their characters^ and also in 
the methods by which they are obtained. As a group, they 
are again divisible into three distinct classes, distinguish- 
able by their chemical characters. Thus, the first class 
are simple compounds of carbon and hydrogen (C H) ; by 
chemists they are termed non-oxygenated oils. They are 
very inflammable, burning like coal-gas, of which they 
appear to be a mere concentration. Although they con- 
tain no oxygen when pure, if exposed to the atmosphere 
they gradually absorb it, and are converted into resins. 
They are very volatile, and rapidly decrease by evaporation 
at the ordinary temperature ; if the temperature be raised, 
they evaporate entirely. They are nearly all obtained by 
distillation. 

The Oil or Spirit of Turpentine, distilled from common 
turpentine, is the type of this class. They are all odoriferous, 
usually having the odour of the material from which they 
are procured. Besides turpentine, the other non-oxygenated 
oils met with in commerce are — 

Oil or Essence oe Lemons. — This oil exists so 
abundantly in the cysts which are found in great numbers 
in the flaveclo, or yellow portion of the rind of the fruit of 



ESSENTIAL OILS. 



273 



the lemon, that it can be obtained either by expression or 
distillation. The former process is generally adopted. It 
is imported in large copper vessels called cylinders, varying 
in size^ but rarely exceeding six gallons. It is received 
chiefly from Messina and Palermo^ but considerable quan- 
tities are also imported at times from Portugal. About 
10^000 lbs. are annually brought to this country. It is 
used in confectionery and perfumery. 

Oil or Essence of Beegamot. — This oil is obtained 
in the same manner as the last^ from the rind of the Berga- 
mot Orange^ Citrus Bergamia {AurantiacecB) . About 8000 
lbs. are annually brought from Sicily^ the whole of which is 
consumed in perfumery. 

Oil op Orange is obtained by distillation with water 
from the rind of the Sweet Orange. Used in perfumery. 

Oil of Oeange Leaf^ or Essence de Petit Grain, 
is procured by distillation from the green leaves of the 
Orange-tree. Also used by perfumers. 

Oil of Neroli, Essence of Neroli, or Oil of 
Orange Elowers, distilled from the flowers of various 
species of the orange tribe, but chiefly from those of the 
Common Orange. This oil constitutes a very delicate per- 
fume ; the odour of the favourite Eau de Cologne is owing 

T 



274 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



to its presence^ that perfume^ when properly prepared, 
being a distillation of orange-flowers with alcohol. Spurious 
Eau de Cologne is made by dissolving the Oil of Neroli in 
weak spirit-of-wine. 

There is a deliciously scented oil called Cetronelle, 
imported from Ceylon in small quantities ; it is generally 
said to be from Citron-flowers. The author is very doubt- 
ful of this origin, and believes rather that it is the produce 
of one of the species of Andropogon, to which genus the 
Lemon-grass of India also belongs. It usually arrives in 
cases with the lemon-grass oil, a case often consisting of 
twelve small bottles, or six of each of these essential oils ; 
besides which it apparently belongs to the oxygenated 
essential oils, whereas all the other volatile oils procured 
from the AurantiacecB are non-oxygenated. The Oil of Ce- 
tronelle is largely used for scenting the soap called Honey 
Soap, now much used. 

Oil oe Juniper, distilled from the berries and young 
shoots of the Common Juniper [Juniperus communis: Coni- 
ferce), (Plate XIX. fig. 101.) It is used in giving a spu- 
rious flavour to gin, and also in pharmacy. From Germany. 

The Second Class of Essential Oils contain oxygen in 
addition to carbon and hydrogen (C H 0) ; they are con- 



ESSENTIAL OILS. 



275 



sequently termed oxygenated oils. The following oils of 
this class occur in commerce : — 

Oil of La\t:nder^ distilled from the flowers of the Com- 
mon Lavender^ Lavandula spicata (Nat. Ord. LahiatcB), is 
imported from France and Germany^ but the foreign oil 
is much inferior to that made in this country. Very large 
quantities of this and several other essential oils have been 
manufactured for some time at Mitcham^ in Surrey, and the 
English essential oils have gained pre-eminence over all 
others. It is exclusively used in perfumery. 

Oil of Eosemaey, distilled from the leaves of Eosemary 
{Rosmarinus officinalis, Nat. Ord. Lahiatce), — This oil is 
very rarely imported, as it is procured in great abundance 
and at a very cheap rate in England. 

Oil of Thyme, Oil of Origanum. — These two names 
would imply that the oil was distilled from two plants, the 
Thyme and Marjoram, but it is now generally understood 
that the common thyme. Thymus vulgaris (Nat. Ord. La- 
hiat(B), yields the oil which bears these names ; it is dis- 
tilled from all parts of the plant. Occasional imports are 
received from Hamburg, and latterly from the United 
States. It is used in scenting Windsor soap and in vete- 
rinary pharmacy. 



276 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



Oil op Peppermint is distilled from the leaves of the 
Peppermint^ Mentha piperita {Lahiatce). It is much used 
in confectionery and pharmacy. Besides the home manu- 
facture^ which is most highly esteemed, we receive about 
12,000 lbs. aimually from Germany and the United States. 

Oil op Mint is manufactured by distillation from the 
leaves of the Common Spearmint of the herb-garden, Men- 
tha viridis. This, and the essential oil of another Labiate 
plant, Mentha Fulegium, the Pennyroyal, are chiefly used in 
pharmacy, and consequently hardly belong to this chapter. 
They are rarely imported. 

Oil op Cloves, distilled from the dried flower-buds 
(Cloves) of the Clove-tree. 

Oil op Nuti^egs, distilled from the various kinds of 
nutmeg. 

Oil op Pimento, distilled from the Jamaica Allspice. 

Oils op Cinnamon and Cassia, distilled from the Cinna- 
mon and Cassia barks ; the former is imported from Ceylon, 
and the latter from China, in considerable quantities. 

These essential oils of the spices are used both in con- 
fectionery and pharmacy. 

Oil op Aniseed, distilled from the seeds (fruit) of 
Fim;pinella Anisum (Nat. Ord. Umhelliferce), It has the 



ESSENTIAL OILS. 



377 



singular property of congealing at the temperature of 54° 
Fahrenheit. It is largely imported from the East Indies 
and from Germany; as much as 4500 lbs. have been im- 
ported in one year. It is used in flavouring spirits and 
cordials, and also in pharmacy. 

Oil of Caeaway is distilled from the seeds (fruit) of 
Carum Cami [UmheUifem) . Small quantities are occasion- 
ally imported from Germany, much more is home manu- 
factured and exported. Its uses are similar to those of 
the preceding one. 

Oil of Eoses, Attae of Roses, Otto of Roses. — 
This most valued essential oil is distilled from the petals 
of one or more species of Rose (the exact species are not 
known to Europeans) ; its costliness can be easily understood 
when it is known that the produce of 10,000 rose-bushes, 
taken at 100,000 roses, is required to yield 180 grains, or 
three drachms, of pure Attar. Being the favourite perfume 
of the whole civilized world, we are lost in amazement when 
we attempt to reflect upon the quantity of rose-leaves re- 
quired in this manufacture. England alone receives about 
1000 lbs. annually^ and France probably half as much 
more. In eastern countries it is a most essential luxury ; 
^' the Attar GuFs Perfume is found at the toilet of every 



278 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



Asiatic beauty. In Cashmere^ the harvest of rose-leaves is 
celebrated as the festival of the year^ and its description in 
Moore^s exquisite poetry is now universally known : — 

" Who has not heard of the Vale of Cashmere, 
With its roses, the brightest that earth ever gave ? 

* -Sfr * * 

But never yet, by night or day, 
In dew of Spring or Summer's ray. 
Did the sweet valley shine so gay 
As now it shines — all love and light ! 
Visions by day and feasts by night I 
A happier smile illumes each brow. 

With quicker spread each heart uncloses. 
And all is ecstasy, — for now 

The Valley holds its Feast of Roses." 

We receive the attar from Smyrna and Constantinople 
either in very small flat square phials^ holding only a few 
drops of the precious oil^ or else in larger bottles-, contain- 
ing from two to eight ounces. In either case the bottles 
are of white flint-glass, ornamented with gilding, and the 
larger ones usually contain the better quality of oil. Like 
Oil of Aniseed, it has the property of congealing at the or- 
dinary temperature of this country; at 80° Pahr. attar of 
roses is a crystalline solid mass ; its colour is usually a light 
yellow or straw-colour. Its high price leads to much adul- 
teration. 



ESSENTIAL OILS. 



279 



Oil op Indian Geass^ Eoosa Oil, or Roosa-ke-til 
— is distilled from the leaves of Androjpogon Calamus- 
aromaticus, supposed by Dr. Eoyle to be the siveet calamus 
mentioned in Exodus xxx. 23, and the stveet cane, in Jere- 
miah vi. 20, and the KoXafjbo^ apco/jLaTL/cb^ of the ancient 
Greeks. It has a strong rose scent, too strong to be agree- 
able ; in India its use is chiefly as a rubefacient in cases of 
rheumatism, but in this country it is most probably used 
for adulterating attar of roses. A genuine sample of this 
oil was contributed to the Liverpool Collection of Imports 
by the author, who received it from his friend Dr. Schol- 
field, of Birkenhead, a gentleman curious in Indian pro- 
ducts, of which he has a choice collection. 

Oil of Lemon-Geass — is distilled from another of the 
scented grasses, Androjpogon citratum ?^ Dr. Pereira con- 
founds this with the Oil of Cetronelle, which however he 
rightly attributes to an androjpopogon ; but the author has 
had many and ample opportunities of seeing both these |oils, 
often imported in the same case ; the one called lemon-grass 
{A^idrojoogon Schoenanthus most probably) has the odour of 

* In tlie Liverpool Botanic Gardens there is a tropical Andropogon, 
with a powerful verbena scent, which the curator, Mr. Shepherd, pointed 
out to the author as Andropogon Schcenanthus. It is most probably the 
Molucca Lemon-grass. 



280 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



the scented Verbena \Aloysia citriodora), and is used to imi- 
tate the perfume of that favourite plant ; both it and the Ce- 
tronelle Oil (/ Anclrojjogon citratzm) are made at Baddegama, 
near Galle^ in Ceylon ; the former is always labelled Essential 
Oil of Molucca Lemon-Grass^ and the latter Oil of Cetronelle, 
The lemon-grass oil by exposure absorbs oxygen much more 
readily than that of Cetronelle, and consequently soon be- 
comes resinous. A specimen which has been in the author's 
collection about twelve months^ contains small floating 
spiculse of stearojotene. There are two or three other essen- 
tial oils from the grasses of this genus ; and probably the 
precious oil of spikenard mentioned in the Scriptures was 
derived from one of them^ most likely from A, Iwarancusa. 

Many other oils occasionally find their way to this coun- 
try, but they do not constitute regular articles of commerce, 
or they are exclusively medicinal, and will be mentioned in 
the chapter on Materia Medica. "We now proceed to the 
Vegetable Tallows and Waxes of various kinds. 

Vegetable Tallow (Indian, from Singapore), obtained 
from the fruit of some plants of the Natural Order JDipte- 
raceae. This peculiar vegetable fat has been frequently im- 
ported lately in small quantities experimentally ; it is totally 
distinct from the Piney Tallow of the East Indies, which is 



Caxn-anLa PalnL. 39. Tla.tt£L-a Palm. 40. Co(pilla ¥-at TaW 
4iL. Mamlla TWtaiiL . ^Z, Ike OIL PaW . 



VEGETABLE TALLOW AND WAX. 



281 



also produced by a Dipterocarpous plant {Vateria Indica); 
both are imported from India^ but the former^ instead of 
being white^ is of a yellowish-green colour^ evidently from 
the admixture of some balsamic resin^ which also gives an 
agreeable balsamic odor this substance. Its chief value 
is for the manufacture of candles^ which give out a s\\eet 
smell in burning. It resembles ordinary tallow in its con- 
sistency^ but small particles appear through its substance^ 
having a resinous lustre. 

Yegetable Tallow (Chinese, from Canton) is procured 
from the seeds of Croton sehifenm (Nat. Ord. Euphorhia- 
eecB) . This kind is very different from the last, being of a 
cream-white colour, a tallowy odour, hard and brittle, and 
usually flaky, or in plates about an inch thick, or in lumps 
bearing the form of some vessel into which it has been 
melted ; the flakes are apparently caused by different melt- 
ings being poured into the same pan. It becomes brown 
by exposure, and evidently contains some acid in abun- 
dance, probably crotonic ; only a few small lots have been 
imported experimentally. 

Yegetable Wax (South American). — A singular pro- 
duct from the leaves of Coryplia cerifera, the Carnauba Palm, 
(Nat. Ord. Falmacece,) (Plate VIII. fig. 38.) 



282 



POFULAK ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



The Cariiauba is one of the finest palms of the Brazilian 
forests. Its fan-like leaves are placed in a tuft at the top 
of a hard solid stem growing from thirty to forty feet in 
height^ the stalks of the leaves themselves being six or eight 
feet in length. When the leaves have attained perfection, 
they are found to be beautifully varnished with a thin coat- 
ing of vegetable wax ; they are then gathered, and laid in 
a cool dry place on cloths, where they naturally wither and 
shrink. In consequence of shrinking, the coat of wax 
cracks and peels off in small flakes ; these are from time to 
time shaken off and collected. When sufficient of the wax 
is thus obtained, it is melted into small earthen pans, and 
when cooled turned out. The lumps imported bear the shape 
of the utensil in which they have been melted ; they are 
about three or four pounds^ weight each, of a light sulphur- 
yellow colour, with a lustre between that of wax and resin, 
and rather brittle; five or six hundredweight are annually 
imported, chiefly from the province of Ceara in Brazil. Its 
use is said to be for mixing with common bees^-wax, to give 
it greater firmness in various of its applications. 

Vegetable Wax, or Myrtle Wax (of North America). — 
Obtained by boiling and pressing the berries of the wax- 
bearing Candle-berry Myrtle [Myrica cerifera, Nat. Ord, 



VEGETABLE WAX AND OILS. 



283 



Myricace(je^ The wax exudes from the berries and forms 
a scum on the water in which they are boiled ; this is col- 
lected and re-melted; it has a greenish-yellow colour and 
aromatic smell. In the United States this wax is used in 
country places to make candles ; it rarely comes to England, 
except in very small quantities, and chiefly as a matter of 
cuu:iosity. . 

To the student in Economic Botany, the Oil and Wax 
series is especially interesting, from the extreme value of 
their organic combinations in the various arts of civilized 
life. What would machinery be without oils ? Even if 
the various engines of human invention could be made to 
work without the lubricating help of vegetable or animal 
oils, the wear from friction would be so great and rapid 
that the use of machinery would be almost doubled in cost- 
liness, and consequently woald, in most instances, be un- 
available. Those mentioned in this chapter are the mosfc 
common commercial substances of this series, but there is 
a vast number which would be valuable if made known to 
the commercial enterprise of our merchants. 



284 



CHAPTER XII. 

MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES. 

Sooty retainer to the vine, 
Bacclius' black servant, negro fine ; 
Sorcerer, that mak'st us dote upon 
Thy begrimed complexion." 

Included in this chapter will be found a collection of vege- 
table substances either more or less connected with the arts 
and manufactures^ but not capable of being correctly ar- 
ranged under any of the preceding chapters. Foremost in 
the list stands that poisonous weed on which Charles Lamb 
wrote the above lines, when striving to release himself from 
its debasing thraldom. 

Tobacco — consists of the dried leaves of several species 
of Nicotiana (Nat. Ord. Solanacece), 



TOBACCO. 



285 



We have shown/ in the history of Eenipj that the practice 
of inhaling the smoke of plants for the excitement or stupor 
thereby caused^ did not originate with tobacco ; for although 
Humboldt has produced sufiicient evidence to prove that 
the natives of Orinoko cultivated and used tobacco from 
time immemorial, there is equally strong historic proof that 
various herbs were used by the ancients of the Old World 
for the same purpose. Though only known to Europeans 
in 1492, when Columbus and his companions first saw the 
natives of Cuba smoking cigars, it has rapidly spread over 
the whole world, and civilized men have adopted as a luxury 
what in all probabiKty w^as originally used as a necessity 
in the lowest states of savage life. It is impossible to say 
what accident first led to the use of this weed, but it is not 
improbable that its leaves were first chewed by some starv- 
ing savage in the desperation of hunger : its remarkable 
effects in allaying the cravings of the stomach would be in- 
stantly appreciated ; other modes of using it would soon be 
developed by accidental causes, and it would not be wonder- 
ful if the untutored savage should highly value properties 
to him so useful and extraordinary. 

Tobacco was introduced to this country by Sir Francis 
Drake in 1586, and was immediately adopted by some of 



286 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



the beaus of the courts who prided themselves in aping 
the hardy voyagers who had trod the wilds of Virginia. 
Sir Walter Ealeigh and a few other great names gave still 
greater encouragement to its adoption^ so that before the 
end of Queen Elizabeth^s reign the habit was by no means 
uncommon. 

Nevertheless its pernicious effects were clearly seen by 
those not prejudiced in its favour^ and strong efforts were 
made in every country to resist the progress of the evil. 
A German writer is said to have collected the titles of one 
hundred different works condemning its use^ which were 
published within half a century from the date of its intro- 
duction to Europe. In Eussia it was prohibited^ and the 
smoker was threatened with the knout for the first offence^ 
and death for the second. Pope Urban VIII. fulminated 
a bull against the use of tobacco^ but the anathema fell to 
the ground. The priests and Sultans of Turkey and Persia 
declared smoking a sin against their holy religion ; but the 
Turks and Persians became the greatest smokers in the 
world. In our own country James I. wrote a treatise 
against it^ entitled Counterblaste to Tobacco/ which 
excited much attention^ but, instead of checking the use of 
the weed, probably introduced it to the notice of many who 



TOBACCO. 



287 



had not before known of it. This evil, like many others^ 
throve by persecution^ until it became almost intolerable, 
even ladies indulging in its use ; and the same untenable 
arguments were adduced in its defence which in the present 
day are in the mouth of every juvenile aspirant for the 
manly power of smoking; the pipe and cigar having as- 
sumed the place of the toga virilis. We have an amusing 
proof of the favour it found with the fair sex in a letter 
written in 1700, by the humorous writer Tom Brown. 

To an Old Lady that smoked Toiacco, 
" Madam, — 

" Though the ill-natured world censures you for smok- 
ing, yet I would advise you. Madam, not to part with so 
innocent a diversion. In the first place it is healthful, 
and, as Galen rightly observes, is a sovereign remedy for the 
toothache, the constant persecutor of old ladies. Secondly, 
tobacco, though it be a heathenish weed, it is a great help 
to Christian meditations ; which is the reason, I suppose, 
that recommends it to your parsons, who could no more 
write a sermon without a pipe in their mouths than a con- 
cordance in their hands; besides every pipe you break 
may serve to put you in mind of mortality, and show you 



288 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



upon what slender accidents man^s life depends. I knew a 
Dissenting minister who on fast-days used to mortify upon 
a rump of beef^ because it put him, as he said, in mind 
that all flesh was grass ; but I am sure that much more 
is to be learned from tobacco : it may instruct you that 
riches, beauty, and all the glories of the world, vanish like 
a vapour. Thirdly, it is a pretty plaything. Pourthly and 
lastly, it is fashionable, at least ^tis in a fair way of becom- 
ing so. Cold tea, you know, has been a long while in re- 
putation at Court, and the gill as naturally ushers in the 
pipe, as the sword-bearer walks before the Lord Mayor.''"' 

In our own time the cigarette is by no means uncom- 
mon between the ruby lips of the fair dames of Portugal 
and Brazil, but thanks to that vice of selfishness which 
seems to be fostered by tobacco, it is not tolerated in other 
civilized countries as one of the pleasures of the fair sex, 
though confessedly an exquisite enjoyment to their male 
companions. 

Medical men are much divided in opinion as to the 
effects of smoking tobacco as a regular habit ; the evidence 
pro and con, would at first sight appear to be pretty nearly 
balanced, but of those who speak favourably of its effects 



TOBACCO. 



289 



many are smokers themselves^ and a great allowance must 
be made for prejudice^ thereby giving a preponderance of 
authority for disapproving the practice. Its power of resist- 
ing contagion^ formerly held forth as one of its strongest apo- 
logies^ is now disbelieved by all well-informed physiologists ; 
whilst its injurious effects upon the digestive and secretory 
powers of many constitutions requires no confirmation. 

Tobacco is used in the form of dried leaves coarsely 
broken (German Knaster) ; the dried leaves cut into fine 
threads (Cut Tobacco) ; the dried leaves pressed into cakes, 
having been previously moistened with treacle or sugar and 
water (Cavendish and Negrohead), used for chewing and 
smoking ; the dried leaves moistened with treacle and water, 
beaten until they are soft, and then twisted into a sort of 
string (called Pigtail) ; the dried leaves and the dried stalks 
ground into a powder and baked, or roasted as it is called, 
used as snuff, which is variously scented to suit the different 
olfactory tastes ; the dried leaves deprived of their midribs 
and wound into a sort of spindle-form, seldom more than 
three inches in length, known as cigars^ and a variety in the 
form of cylinders cut straight at e^ch end and thicker at 
one end than the other, known as cheroots. Besides th^se 
preparations for smokers there are cigarettoes or cigarettes^ 

u 



290 



POPULAU ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



made by rolling up a very small quantity of cut tobacco in a 
small piece of paper^ or^ what is generally preferred^ a piece 
of the leafy covering of the Indiau corn : these are smoked 
the same as cigars^ usually by very moderate smokers. 

The varieties of tobacco found in commerce are very 
numerous^ and are derived from various species of Nicotiana 
indigenous to Europe^ Asia^ Africa^ and America. The fol- 
lowing list' comprises most of the sorts known. 

American Tobaccos : — 

Yirginian^ Maryland^ and Kentucky^ imported in hogs- 
heads^ the leaves tied into small bundles called hands, some- 
times with the leaf entire^ sometimes with the midrib 
removed : in the latter case it is termed strips.^^ These 
three varieties are all the produce of Nicotiana Tahacum ; 
they are cultivated very extensively in the States after 
which they are named. Colour yellowish-brown. 

Orinoko. — A less common sort^ derived from Nicotiana 
macrophylla, Native of America. 

Columbian. — Probably from N, Loxensis, a native of 
New Granada. 

Brazil Leaf and Roll. — The roll tobaccos of South 
America are prepared by rolling or twisting the leaves into 
a kind of loose rope an inch or more in diameter ; this 



TOBACCO. 



291 



roi^e is coiled up into cylindrical rolls of about two feet in 
length and one foot in diameter. Porto Eico, Puerta Ca- 
bello, Maracaibo^ and Varinas Eoll^ are all most probably 
produced by the perennial tobacco of Buenos Ayres, li. 
glauca, and not improbably from other native species. 
Colour light brown. 

Cuba, Yara, and Havana. — This tobacco, of which the 
fine Havana cigars are made, is the produce of the annual 
species, reimncla, a native of Cuba; it is the N, lyrata of 
some authors. Colour dark brovv^n. 

Peruvian and Chilian. — Probably from andicola^ a 
native of the Peruvian Andes, 

Asiatic Tobaccos : — 

East Indian and Alanilla is produced from N, rustica, 
var. /8, Asiatica, The iV". mstica is a native of Europe, Asia, 
Africa, and America ; there are several varieties of it, but 
the one indicated is that which is most generally cultivated 
in India : the leaf is much smaller than the common Ame- 
rican species, and is ovate instead of lanceolate; one of 
the varieties is often cultivated in this country as a garden 
plant. Colour dark brown. 

Persian or Shiraz. — This highly valued sort, occasion- 
ally received from Turkey, is produced by N, Persica ; the 



29a 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



leaves are long and lanceolate. The Shiraz tobacco is very 
celebrated ; it is in yellow tough leaves^ often much broken. 

Latakia. — This^ which we also receive from Turkey, 
comes from the Turkish province of Latakia, formerly the 
ancient Laodicea; it is produced by another variety of 
rustica, Latakia tobacco consists of the leaves together 
with the panicles of flowers and buds, with about four 
inches of the pedicels attached ; the leaves and flowers appear 
to be laid in layers one upon the other to a considerable 
thickness and then pressed together, until they form com- 
pact hands, about the size of a man^shead. The colour is a 
dark brown. 

Chinese. — The author has met with two kinds of tobacco 
from China : one in small yellow ovate leaves of a bright 
yellow colour, not tied in hands, and not more than four 
inches in length ; the other in hands consisting of dark brown 
lanceolate leaves, eighteen inches long and very smooth, 
Neither are of common occurrence in this country; the 
former is probably a variety of N. rustica ; the latter is un- 
doubtedly iV. Chinensis, a perennial tobacco of large growth. 

European Tobaccos : — 

Dutch and German are furnished by two or three species, 
especially Tahacum and N, mstica. 



TOBACCO. 



293 



Though cultivated in Africa^ the tobacco of that country 
has taken no important position in commerce. 

Nothwithstanding a high rate of duty payable upon im- 
portation^ the consumption of tobacco in this country is 
immense. In 1850 the imports were 42^441^520 lbs.; of this 
a very large portion was re-exported. The following sta- 
tistics of its consumption are taken from a paper ^ On the 
history and conuumption of Tobacco/ by John Crawford^ 
Esq._, read before the Statistical Society, November 15th, 

1852, reported in the ''Literary Gazette' of January 1st, 

1853. The table exhibits the rapid increase in its con- 
sumption during the last thirty years. 



Years. 


Consumption. 


Duty 
per lb. 


Revenue, 


Population. 


Consump- 
tion per 
bead. 




lbs. 




£. 




oz. 


1821 


15,598,152 


4s. 


3,122,383 


21,282,960 


11-71 


1831 


19,532,841 


3s. 


2,964,592 


24,410,439 


12-80 


1841 


22,309,360 


3s. 


3,580,163 


27,019,672 


13-21 


1851 


28,062,978 


3s. 


4,485,768 


27,452,262 


16-86 



^^The total annual production of tobacco is estimated at 
2,000,000 of tons, and would require half the British ton- 
nage which ^enters inwards^ or ^clears outwards'' annually, 
to transport the same. The value, at 2d, per pound, would 
amount to £37,000,000 sterling.'' 



294 



POPULAE ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



CoEK (called commercially Corkwood). — The outer bark 
of the Cork Oak [Querctis Suber, Nat. Ord. Corylacecd). 

This very useful substance is formed by the tree between 
the outermost and innermost layers of its bark : it consists of 
a peculiar cellular mass^ the individual cells of which are 
distended with a curious grnmous secretion^ which hardens 
and dries^ and forms the substance of the Cork. When the 
Cork Oak is nine or ten years old^ the outer bark splits and 
the second layer grows,, and increases very much in bulk 
by the constant secretion of the corky matter : this would 
fall off naturally in nine or ten years, but is usually removed 
when six or seven years old. The removal is effected by 
cutting a slit through the bark from the top of the trunk 
to the bottom, and a transverse one at each end ; the cork 
will then easily peel off ; it is afterwards removed, in large 
curled- up pieces, to properly prepared pits ; here the sheets 
are piled up one upon another, and heavy weights are placed 
to flatten them down ; water is then let into the pit, and 
the cork left to soak for a time, it is then taken out and 
dried, and retains its flatness. Its use in making corks 
for bottles is very generally known; it is also used for a 
variety of economic purposes, amongst which cork soles for 
shoes, making life-buoys, etc. The imports amount to 2520 
tons, an enormous quantity of so light a material. 



AMADOU. 



295 



EiCE Paper. — Another cellular substance^ thougli very 
different from the last. This beautiful material has given 
rise to much discussion ; the common opinion was that^ as 
its name implied;, it was made of rice; the slightest micro- 
scopic examination however proved that it was a fine cellu- 
lar tissue. It has been attributed to many plants^ but it is 
now, through the indefatigable perseverance of the officers 
of the Kew Gardens, decided to be the produce of Aralia 
papynfera (Nat. Ord. AraliacecB), called in China, Taccada. 
The pith, w^iich is about an inch and a half in diameter, is 
freed from the external parts of the stem, and then pared 
in the same way the ancients employed in preparing their 
paper from the pithy stem of the papyrus rush [Papyrus 
antiquoriim). After the mass has been carefully pared to 
the centre, it is flattened out and pressed by heavy weights 
placed upon it ; when thoroughly dried under pressure, it 
retains its perfect flatness. Its use is chiefly for water- 
colour paintings of flowers, fruit, and insects, which have an 
exquisite effect upon rice-paper. It is also employed for a 
few other ornamental purposes. 

Amadou, German Tinder. — This cellular substance con- 
sists of slices cut from the large parasitic fungus Boletus 
igniarius (Nat. Ord. Fungi) : it grows in large masses upon 



296 



POPULAE ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



the oak. When first obtained, it is rather hard, but by 
beating it with mallets it becomes soft, feeling very much 
like chamois-leather. It is used as tinder, for which it is 
admirably adapted, and also in surgery as a styptic. One 
or two other fungi are used for the same purposes, under 
the name of Amadou. Tolypoms forrmiiarius is the true 
Amadou : it is used in India, and also by the Laplanders, 
who place great value upon it as a styptic. 

Vegetable Ivory. — This remarkable substance, which so 
closely resembles a product of the animal kingdom, is the 
hardened albumen of the nuts of a species of Palm, JPhyte- 
leplias macTocarpa, (Plate X. fig. 48. Pig. 49 represents 
the nut about half the natural size, with the outer shell 
partly broken; and figure 50 is a section of the same show- 
ing the relative proportion of the ivory and the position of 
a small cavity w^hich alw^ays exists in the centre.) These 
nuts in commerce usually go by the name of Corosso nuts. 
How this name originated is a mystery, as the Indians call 
the palm by the names FuUijntnta and Homero ; the native 
Spaniards call it Palma del Marsil and Marsil vegetal. 
The nuts are enclosed in large capsules, about twenty inches 
in circumference, containing many of the seeds or nuts. 
Owing to the extreme shortness of the cauclex^ or stalk, (rf 




4-9. Vegetable Ivory Falxii .50. Ye;^elahlf> Ivory Nut 51. J> 

52. Co^uilla Nut. 53 TKe Nut turitei . 



COQUILLA NUTS. 



297 



this fine palm, the large capsules lie on the ground, as seen 
in the Plate, whilst the majestic tuffc of pinnated leaves, 
twenty feet in height, rises like a gigantic plume of feathers. 
The capsules are said to resemble negroes^ heads, and are 
called by the natives, Cabeza de negro. The Yegetable 
Ivory Palm is a native of the low valleys of the Peruvian 
Andes. We are indebted to Sir WilHam Hooker for our 
knowledge of this fine palm, and for proving it to be the 
produce of the Corosso nuts ; a very interesting article will 
be found upon this subject in the 1st volume of ^ Hooker^s 
Journal of Botany,^ 1849. They are used extensively by 
the turners in making small trinkets to imitate ivory. 
About 80,000 of the nuts were imported in 1852. 

CoQUiLLA Nuts. — The seeds of another Palm, Attalea 
fumfera (Plate VIII. fig. 40), previously alluded to in 
speaking of Piassava, In Plate X., fig. 51 is a Coquilla 
nut, and fig. 52 a parasol handle turned out of one of these 
nuts. The seed of the Attalea was known long before the 
palm which produces it, and as the seed clearly indicated a 
close affinity to the Cocoa-nut, it was called by Qsertner, 
Cocos lajoidea, and by Targioni Tozzetti, LitJiocai'jJus cocci- 
formis, Coquilla nuts are often three inches in length : they 
have a small cavity in the centre, in which the seed is found ; 



298 



POPULAE ECONOMIC BOTxiNY. 



the shell is thick and extremely hard and brittle^ taking a 
very fine polish ; they are used chiefly in the manner indi- 
cated by fig. 52^ and for making the small knob-handles of 
cabinet drawers. About 300^000 nuts were imported in 
1852. 

Aeeca Nuts. — The fruit of another palm. They are 
inclining slightly to pear-shape^ about the size of a large 
cherry^ very hard^ and externally not mauch unlike some of 
the inferior nutmegs ; the only use to which they are ap- 
plied in this country^ is for making tooth-powder^ for which 
purpose they are first converted into charcoal and then 
powdered ; only a very small number is imported. They 
are the seed of Areca Catechu (JPahnaceas), and constitute 
the celebrated Betel jN^uts of India. 

JuNiPEE Beheies. — The fruit of the common Juniper 
{Juniper 118 commwiis, Nat. Ord. ComfercB). (Plate XIX. 
fig. 101.) These berries are imported in considerable quanti- 
ties from the North of Germany^ Holland^ and other places, 
for flavouring the gin of this country. More than 200 tons 
per annum are usually imported. 

ToNQUiN, Tonga, or Tonga Bean. — The seeds of Di/p- 
teryx odorata (Nat. Ord. LeguminoscB) . The pods of this 
plant only produce one seed in each : this seed or bean is 



PATCHOULI. 



299 



an inch in lengthy shaped somewhat like a thin almond, 
covered with a shining black skin, and of an agreeable and 
powerful odour, resembling newly-made hay; the odorife- 
rous principle resides in a substance called courmarine. It 
is a native of Guiana, and is used almost only for scenting 
snuff; a few hundredweights are imported annually. 

Patchouli or Pucha-Pat. — A herb named Pogostemon 
PatcJiouU (Nat. Ord. Lahiatd), (Plate XVI. fig. 84.) The 
dried tops with leaves and flov/ers are imported in bundles 
about one foot in length ; they yield, by distillation, an essen- 
tial oil, in which form the perfume exists, and, by digestion 
in weak alcohol, a tincture called Essence of Patchouli or 
Patchonly. This peculiarly-scented vegetable product is 
only used in perfumery, but the odour it yields, though 
dehghtful to many, is to others very offensive. It is im- 
ported from India, in chests and half-chests, the former 
weighing 110 lbs. each. In the description of the Pat- 
chouli plant in ^ Hooker^s Journal of Botany,^ a writer in 
the ^ Gardeners^ Chronicle^ is quoted, who states that the cha- 
racteristic smell of Chinese Indian Ink is owing to an ad- 
mixture of patchouli in its manufacture. This is however 
manifestly erroneous : the Sepia, from which the Indian ink 
is manufactured, has naturally a strong musky odour, so 



300 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



much so^ that those faeces of the whale which constitute 
the much-admired and valuable perfume called ambergris 
are believed to originate solely from the animal feeding upon 
the Sejoiay the comminuted bones of which are constantly 
found in ambergris, 

Oreige or Iris Root. — The root of the Florentine Iris 
{Iris Morentina, Nat. Ord. Iridacece), (Plate XYI. fig. 83.) 

This vegetable production^ which is only used in perfu- 
mery^ is the rhizome or underground stem of the above spe- 
cies of Iris^ and probably also of /. pallida. It comes from 
Italy^ in flattened white pieces of very irregular shape^ and 
spotted with brownish spots; these are the points from 
which the fibrous roots have been removed. Orrice root 
possesses a beautiful violet odour^ and is used principally 
in the perfumed preparation of wheat-starch called Violet- 
powder, Above five tons are annually imported. 

Calamus Root is the rhizome of the Sweet Flag^ Acorns 
aromaticus (Nat. Ord. Acoraceai), 

This plant has a most extensive geographical range, being 
found in Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America. The 
bulk of that which furnishes the supply of our markets is 
from the banks of the Norfolk rivers, where it is indige- 
nous and very plentiful; it is however occasionally im^ 



Plate IVin 




^2 . (^nui beny.oiii . V)3. Manau . 94^. In^a. B.iib"ber Plant 

35 . Giirta PeToka Plaiit . 96 Tiece oi Eaw Gutta Perdisi . 



GUM BENZOIN. 



301 



ported from Hamburg and from the Italian ports. The 
foreign article usually has the rind pared off. Calamus 
root, or Calamus aromaticus as it is usually called, is in flat- 
tened pieces, about three-quarters of an inch broad and five 
or six inches in length, of a yellowish-brown colour ; this 
rhizome is also marked with scars from which the leaves 
have been removed, and by spots, below where the roots 
existed. Its essential oil is used in perfuming snuffs. The 
root is much used in the adulteration of ale, by the brew^ers 
and publicans ; it is also used by perfumers. 

Gum Benzoin or Benjamin. (Plate XYIII. fig. 92.) — 
A gum -resin used chiefly in perfumery. It is produced by 
the Benjamin-tree, Sty rax Benzoin (Nat. Ord. Sti/racece), 
a very large tree, indigenous to Sumatra, Borneo, Siam, 
and Java. 

The gum exudes from incisions purposely made in the 
stems, and is of different qualities according to the age of 
the trees. We receive it either in masses or tears : the masses 
are fragments of the solid block into which the Benzoin is 
run in the chests, and is a mixture of red and white patches, 
having a resemblance to coarse red granite ; the tears are 
usually nearly w hite, and of a very flne quality. It forms 
an ingredient in the incense used for burning, and in some 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



few medicinal preparations. About 10 tons were imported 
in 1853^ from tlie East Indies. 

Gum Styrax or Stoeax. — Another odoriferous gum- 
resin, the produce of Styrax officinale (Nat. Ord. Styraceci), 

There are several varieties of this gum, all the produce of 
Turkey in Asia, where the gum exudes naturally through 
punctures made in the bark by insects ; the bark is also cut 
for the purpose. It is either liquid or solid ; the former 
is thicker than treacle, of a greyish colour and agreeable 
vanilla odour ; the solid is in large cakes of a reddish-brown 
colour. It is very easily broken, and consists of a coarse 
sawdust-like powder of reddish-brown colour. It contains 
about four-fifths of sawdust, and it appears most probable it 
is nothing more than the liquid storax mixed with sufficient 
sawdust to divide it thoroughly and so dry it, after which 
the saturated sawdust is pressed into cakes. It is seldom 
used except by perfumers, and is but very rarely imported. 

Age A- Agra, Ceylon Moss. Plocaria Candida or Fucus 
amylacem. The former name has been lately adopted. 
(Nat. Ord. Algm:) 

This seaweed is occasionally imported in considerable 
quantities for the purpose of making a jelly for dressing silks. 
It is in the form of thin, very much branched pieces; the 



lEISH MOSS. 



303 



branches are roundish and very roughs being covered with 
small pointed tubercles ; it is of a yellowish colour and so 
gelatinous as to be semi-transparent ; it tastes strongly, 
when imported, of sea-salt, and has the usual odour of sea- 
weeds. It forms a considerable article of food in India, and 
is said to furnish the material for the edible birds^ -nests of 
China. When well washed and then soaked in pure water, 
it swells considerably and becomes transparent ; in this state 
it is boiled in syrup and forms a delicious preserve, which is 
sometimes imported in jars, similar to those which contain 
preserved ginger. 

Carrageen, or Irish Moss. Ckondrus crispus. (Nat. 
Ord. Al^68.) 

This is another seaweed which yields an abundance of 
gelatine, and is used in the manufactories for dressing silks, 
etc. ; it is also extensively used in feeding cattle, and to 
make a light nutritive jelly for invalids. It is in broadish 
fronds, resembling pieces of yellow parchment much crisped 
or curled at the edges. It contains 79 per cent, of vegetable 
jelly. It is occasionally imported from Northern Europe, 
but enormous quantities are furnished from the Irish coasts. 

Teazels. — The dried heads of the Fullers^ Teazel, JDip- 
sacus fullonum (Nat. Ord. Li^sacece). 



304 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY, 



The fullers^ teazel produces a large conical composite 
flower-head, which is persistent after the flowers have died ; 
it is covered with hard, stiS", sharp-pointed bracts, the points 
of which are bent in the form of a hook ; these cones are 
about two and a half inches in length, and one inch and a 
half in diameter at the base ; they are used for raising the 
nap on woollen cloth, for which purpose they are so admi- 
rably adapted, that no invention has yet been found to 
supersede them entirely. When used, they are cut into 
halves or quarters, and a great number are fixed in a frame 
with the hooked bracts outwards, so that a large surface of 
these minute claws is presented ; the frame is then made to 
move over the surface of the cloth until the little sharp 
hooks of the teazels have scratched up the required nap ; 
large quantities are imported from Hamburg and Holland, 
besides which the teazel is extensively cultivated in many 
parts of England. 

Dutch Rushes. T]quisetum liyemale, (Nat. Ord. Hqui- 
setacece.) 

This curious vegetable production is found abundantly 
in the low boggy grounds of Holland, whence it is occa- 
sionally exported; it is also found in similar localities in 
England. Its stem, which is about a foot in height, is covered 



CANES. 



305 



with a skin so full of silica^ that it is occasionally used to 
poHsh furniture, woods, and metals. Formerly it was of 
great importance for that purpose, but the invention of sand 
and emery papers has almost superseded this natural file. 

Canes. — Under this general designation the stems of 
several different plants are imported for various purposes, 
chiefly as walking-sticks. - The walking-canes are princi- 
pally— 

The Malacca Cane [Calamus Zalacca, Nat. Ord. Palma- 
cece), which are highly prized; they are of all thicknesses 
up to an inch in diameter, jointed like the common rattan, 
but with the joints so far apart that a good walking-cane 
can be made of a single internode ; these canes are of a 
rich reddish-brown colour, and as shining as if varnished. 
The brown tint is communicated by a process of smoking. 
They are imported from China and the East Indies. 

Partridge Canes are the stems of some small Palm, with 
the exterior removed, and the hard wood pohshed; they 
resemble sticks of porcupine-wood, and are chiefly used as 
handles for umbrellas, etc. 

Penang Lawyers are also the stems of a species of Palm, 
but which one is a matter of uncertainty ; they are said to 
be produced by a species of Calamus, 



306 



rOPULAE ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



Several of the walking-canes are produced by plants be- 
longing to the Natural Order GraminacecBy or the Grasses : 
thus the Bamboo^ which is of almost universal application, 
though very seldom used for the purpose above indicated, 
is a species of grass, Bamhusa amndinacea, often fifty or 
sixty feet in height ; and there are several resembling it, only 
differing in size, which are only used as walking-canes ; for 
instance, those called Whangees, "White and Black Bam- 
boos, Muted Bamboos, Jambees, etc. : we are however 
quite ignorant of the species which produce them. 

Under the name of Eeed Cane, the culm or stem of a 
grass is largely imported from New Orleans, for the pur- 
pose of making weavers^ shuttles, etc. ; they are probably 
from Arundinaria ScJwmhurgkii, and are often forty feet in 
length. 

The Bamboo is of infinite use to the inhabitants of the 
East Indies, and especially China, who adapt it to an in- 
finity of purposes ; they even make ornamental clothing by 
stringing together very small lengths of the small petioles 
of the beautiful narrow lanceolate leaves ; they also build 
their huts and make every article of their furniture of this 
useful cane, which thrives in the East with extraordinary 
luxuriance. 



307 



DIVISION IV. 
MATEEIA MEDICA. 

CHAPTEE XIII. 

MISCELLAXEOUS ^lEDICINAL PRODUCTS, 

In a work professing to be a popular history of the econo- 
mic productions of the vegetable kingdom^ it would be 
entirely out of place to enter into a description of all those 
vegetable materials which constitute the remedial agents 
used in pharmacy. Indeed they are so numerous that the 
present volume would prove insufficient for the slightest 
sketch of their qualities and characters. 

There are a few however which are of such familiar use^ 
that a selection of these^ and such others as are possessed of 
some interest^ will perhaps be acceptable to the reader. 



308 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



Several Gums were omitted from the chapter on those 
products, because their use was solely medicinal ; they will 
now therefore be mentioned. 

Gum AsAFGETiDA. — A gum-resin which exudes from in- 
cisions made in the root of Ferula AmfcEtida (Nat. Ord. 
Umhellifera) . 

Much learned discussion has taken place upon the pro- 
bability of this plant being in use amongst the ancients 
under the name of laser, which it is supposed has been 
changed to asa, or, as it is called by Avicenna, assa. 

This Ferula is a native of Persia ; it has very large tap- 
roots, similar to but much larger than the common parsnep. 
In order to obtain the gum-resin the cultivators remove the 
earth from the upper part of the root, and then cutting off 
the crown, from this excision the gum-resin oozes as a 
milky juice, which however rapidly changes colour and 
hardens upon exposure to the air ; it is scraped off from 
time to time; and when fully hardened in lumps, it has a 
red colour and disagreeable smell, resembling garlic. About 
3000 lbs. were imported in 1852. Usually it is in lumps, 
or run in one mass into a case ; sometimes it is in tears, 
which are yellowish-white, and varying in size from a pea 
to a walnut. 



GUM GALBANUM. 



309 



Gum Sagapenum — is another gum-resin^ obtained in a 
similar manner from a species of Ferula, which has not yet 
been correctly determined. It occurs both in tears and in 
mass ; the former is in small brownish-yellow tears adher- 
ing together so as to form masses. The mass sagapenum 
is soft and tough^ and of a dark yellowish-brown colour. 
This gum has a slight smell of onions. The quantity im- 
ported is small. 

Gum Galbanum. — A gum>resin which exudes from in- 
cisions made in the stalk of Galbamm officinale, (Nat. 
Ord. Umbellifem.) 

The chief interest attached to this gum arises from its 
rarity^ the uncertainty of its native locality, and its great 
antiquity, as an esteemed vegetable product. Thus it is 
mentioned by Moses in Exodus xxx. 34 : And the Lord 
said unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte, and 
onycha, and galbanum ; these sweet spices with pure frank- 
incense : of each there shall be a like weight."^^ It is sup- 
posed, without any certainty, to be a native of Syria, of 
Persia, and of Arabia. It is either in brownish-yellow, semi- 
transparent tears, round, and about the size of peas, or else 
it is in agglutinated masses consisting of the tears probably 
of an inferior quality, and usually of a darker colour, less 



310 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



translucent^ and much mixed with seeds^ stalks^ and other 
foreign substances. It has a fragrant balsamic smelly but 
is not very agreeable ; its use is principally as a constituent 
of plaisters. 

Gum Opopanax. — A resinous exudation obtained from 
incisions in the roots of Opopanax Chironium (Nat. Ord. 
TJmhellifera). It is a reddish-yellow gum, which occasion- 
ally^ but rarely, comes from Italy, Sicily, and Greece ; it was 
known to the ancients, who employed it in pharmacy. 

Gum Ammoniacum^ — The gum-resin of another Umbel- 
liferous plant — Dorema ammoniacum. 

This gum is the produce of Persia \ it oozes forth from 
the punctures made in the plant by a species of beetle which 
infests it. Sometimes it is in yellowish-white tears, but 
more generally in masses formed by the agglutination of 
these tears ; the smell is disagreeable. Though produced 
in Persia, we receive our supply, which is considerable, en- 
tirely from India. 

Gum Scammony. — A gum-resin procured by making an 
incision in the upper part of the large perennial roots of 
the Convolvulus Scammonia (Nat. Ord. Corivolvulacece) , for 
which purpose the earth is removed from the top of the 
root. (Plate XVII. fig. 90.) 



GUM MYRRH. 



311 



We usually receive Scammony from Smyrna^ in the form of 
small compact cakes about an inch thick and three or four 
inches in diameter. It is of a dark greenish -black colour^ with 
a dull surface and a remarkable cheesy smell. But scam- 
mony^ owing to the adulterations practised upon it by those 
who collect it, is so varied in appearance that a very long 
description of all the varieties would be necessary to perfect 
its history. We receive between 2000 and 3000 lbs. per 
annum. 

Gum Elemi, or Elemi, is a peculiar resin, the history of 
which is involved in obscurity. The Dutch furnish the 
whole supply of this resin, which is consequently thought 
to be the product of one of their colonies, but both its 
origin and the locality whence it is brought are, with the 
characteristic jealousy of that people, kept entirely secret. It 
is in masses, having a sweet balsamic smell, and a greenish 
and yellowish-white colour. A few hundredweights only are 
imported. 

Gum Myrrh. — This gum-resin exudes naturally from the 
stem of Balsamodendron Myrrha (Nat. Ord. Amj/ridace(x), 
a small shrub growing on the coast of Abyssinia, and called 
Kerobeta by the inhabitants. 

Myrrh is frequently mentioned in the Scriptures, even 



312 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



as early as Genesis xxxvii. 25, where we find the Ishmaelites, 
to whom Joseph was sold by his brethren^ were merchants 
dealing in " myrrh, balm, and spicery )^ its name in all 
probability is derived from the Hebrew word Mur, which 
signifies hitter , — a name very expressive of its bitter taste. 
It has always been highly esteemed, on account of its sweet 
balsamic odour and presumed medicinal virtues. Two kinds 
are imported, one from the East Indies, the other from 
Turkey ; the latter is the better variety. Myrrh is in small 
masses about the size of a walnut, sometimes larger, very 
irregular in shape, and of a reddisli-brown colour (darker 
in the East Indian variety), slightly translucent, and ap- 
pearing to be covered with yellowish-brown dust. About 
15 or 16 tons are annually imported, the greater portion 
from the East Indies, 

Manna. — A concrete juice which exudes from the branches 
of the European Flowering Ash, Omus EitropcEa (Nat. Ord. 
Oleace(£), (Plate XYIII. fig. 93.) It is usually produced 
by making incisions in the stem and branches of the tree ; 
it is a peculiar kind of sugar, called Mannite ; when it first 
oozes from the longitudinal incisions it is a yellowish-white 
liquid, which concretes on the bark, and is removed in long 
strips, called flakes; there are other varieties, but Flake 



LIQUORICE ROOT. 



313 



Manna is the best. All we receive comes from Sicily in 
boxes^ and amounts to about 11,000 lbs. per annum. 

Aloes. — The juice of the leaves of various species of Aloe, 
principally A, vulgaris, A. Socotorinay and A, spicata, (Nat. 
Ord. LiliacecE,) 

The juice of the aloe-leaves is either expressed or drained 
out, after which it is boiled until it begins to thicken, when 
it is poured into gourds or calabashes, and other convenient 
packages, and hardens into a compact black substance, 
having an aromatic smell, but an intensely bitter taste. 

There are several kinds distinguished in commerce, as — 
Socotorine Aloes (the best) produced by A, Socotorina. 
Barbadoes Aloes (fine quality) „ A, vulgaris. 

Cape Aloes (very inferior) „ A, spicata. 

Hepatic Aloes (inferior) „ A, Indica ? 

Mocha Aloes (the worst) „ A, Indica, 

Indian Aloes (quality variable) „ A, Indica, 

About 120 to 130 tons of Aloes are annually imported. 

Liquorice Root. — The large tap-roots of the Common 
Liquorice [Glycyrrliiza glabra: Nat. Ord. Legnminosce) , 
(Plate XVIL fig. 91). 

This well-known vegetable product was equally familiar 
to the ancients, who also used it medicinally. The root is 



314 



POPULAE ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



rarely imported, a considerable quantity being grown for 
medicinal purposes in various parts of the kingdom. We 
however receive from Italy very large quantities of the 
extract of the root, either made into short sticks, and called 
Spanish Liquorice, or Liquorice Juice ; or else in the form 
of an extract run into boxes of about two hundredweights 
each; the latter article is the purest. 560 tons were im- 
ported in 1850. Much of this large quantity is used by 
the brewers in the manufacture of porter. 

Camphor. — A peculiar vegetable principle contained in 
many plants, but the Camphor of commerce is derived from 
CampJiora officinarum (Nat. Ord. Laurace^e), (Plate XYL 
fig. 85.) 

Camphor exists chiefly in the wood of the tree, and being 
volatile, is easily distilled from it by means of heat, and is 
condensed in an earthen receiver. The crude or unrefined 
camphor of commerce is obtained from China and Batavia ; 
it is in the form of a crystalline powder, of a dirty white 
colour, and resembling some of the white varieties of un- 
refined sugar ; it is refined by re-distillation. The imports 
exceed 200 tons annually. 

Nux Vomica. — The seeds of Strychnos Nux-Yomica 
(Nat. Ord. Apocynaced). (Plate XVI. fig. 86.) 



EHUBAHB. 



315 



These poison nuts contain the peculiar vegetable principle 
called Stryclinme, which is remarkable for its powerful effect 
on the nervous system of animals^ and for its intense bit- 
terness ; it is in consequence of this latter quality it has 
lately been so much an object of interest^ owing to state- 
ments having been made that it was used to give a flavour 
to the common beverage called hitter ale. This has been 
contradicted by those most interested^ nevertheless the most 
suspicious point has not been cleared up. In 1840 only 
550 pounds of Nux Vomica were imported, whereas in 
1852 nearly as many tons reached the English markets. 
The seeds are about the size of a shilling, twice as tliick, 
and have a silky appearance ; they are of less thickness in 
the middle than at their edges, and have a small point or 
umbilicus in the centre of the concave side, one surface 
being more concave than the other. Their colour is a kind 
of fawn or light drab. Nux Vomica is imported from Co- 
romandel, Ceylon, etc. ; it is much used as a poison for 
rats and mice. 

Rhubarb. — The dried roots of some species of Rheum, 
(Nat. Ord. Poli/gonace^e,) 

No drug in the whole Materia Medica has given rise to 
more discussion as to its origin than the medicinal Rhubarb, 



316 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



There are two distinct varieties in ordinary commerce^ known 
as East Indian and Turkey, but there are others in the 
market; properly the East Indian should be called ffi- 
malayayiy and the Turkey 'Russian ; there are besides the 
Dutch trimmed, Chinese, English, and French. The species 
of Rheum supposed to yield them are R, undulatum, R. 
pahnatumy R, compactum^ and R, Rhaponticum, About 140 
tons is the annual supply. The roots are cut into pieces of 
various size and shape, but usually of the bulk of an orange ; 
the outer bark is peeled off, and the lumps are apparently 
trimmed with a file; very often they are perforated with 
large holes, which have been made for the purpose of 
stringing them up to dry. 

Jalap. — The dried tubers of Uxogonmm Ptcrga (Nat. 
Ord. Convolvulacece). (Plate XVII. fig. 89.) 

This valuable medicine has been known in Europe ever 
since 1733, when it was introduced from Mexico, its native 
place, by Dr. Houston ; it derives its name from a place named 
Xalapa, where it is most abundant. Until lately it was sup- 
posed to be derived from a species of Convolvulus, which, 
under the name of C. Jalapa, has long been cultivated in 
the botanic gardens of Europe as the true Jalap plant ; it is 
now proved to be an Exogonium, a genus distinguished from 



4 




87. SerLTLSL slu?-ab . 88 . PeruviaiL Bait Tree. 89. ZTalap PlaxLt. 



SENNA LEAVES. 



317 



Ipomoea and Convolvulus chiefly by the stamens being pro- 
truded ottt of the tube of the corolla. It is a beautiful 
climbing convolvulus-like plant, with delicate pink flowers ; 
its stem is perennial, but very thin, and forms in the ground 
a tuber of an oval figure thin at each extremity, where the 
stem and roots are given off ; it reaches the size of a small 
turnip, but the largest tubers are rarely selected ; they be- 
come much smaller by drying ; externally the tubers are of 
a dark umber-brown colour and much wrinkled. The im- 
ports are nearly 150 tons per annum. A spurious kind of 
jalap is often found in the markets under the name of 
Male-jalap, or He-jalap ; it consists evidently of pieces of 
a much larger tuber, much coarser, but in general appear- 
ance not unlike the true species ; it is produced by Ipomoea 
Orizabensis [Convolvulacece) , 

Senna Leaves. — Dried leaves of several species of 
Cassia (Nat. Ord. Leguminosd) , 

There are several qualities of Senna in commerce, and it 
is thought they are all derived from different species. The 
principal commercial kinds are Aleppo, Alexandrian, and East 
Indian or Tinnevelly Senna. They are supposed to be yielded 
by the following species : — Aleppo, by Cassia ohovata, a per- 
ennial herbaceous plant, a native of Northern Africa, but 



318 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



now cultivated in southern Europe and the West Indies; — 
Alexandrian, by several species mixed together^ as C. oho- 
vata, C, acutifoUa, C. ^thiopica, and almost invariably with 
the leaves of a plant belonging to the Natural Order Ascle- 
piadacece, called Cynanchum Argel ; — and Tinnevelly, by C. 
elongata, an annual species^ which, being carefully cultivated 
and kept quite free from mixture of other species, is the 
most highly prized. The same species yield several other 
varieties, produced in other locaHties. The Senna Cassias 
all produce yellow flowers, which, though belonging to the 
Leguminous Order, have no general resemblance to pea- 
shaped flowers ; the reader must therefore refer to Plate 
XVII. fig. 87, and will derive a better idea from Mr. 
ritch^s beautiful drawing than from the most elaborate de- 
scription. The quantity of senna imported from all parts, 
in 1852, was about 257 tons. 

The long round black pods, imported under the name of 
Cassia-fistula, are seed-pods of an allied species, Catharto- 
carpus Fistula (Nat. Ord. Leguminosce) , a tree found in 
China and the East Indies. 

Peruvian Bark, Jesuits' Bark. — The dried bark of 
various species of the genus Cinchona (Nat. Ord. Cincho- 
nacecB). (Plate XYII. fig. 88.) 



PEUUVIAN BAHK. 



319 



The extreme value of the Peruvian Cinchona barks in 
pharmacy has caused their history to be discussed more 
than that of any other remedial agent ; the discussion re- 
specting Peruvian Bark has moreover been greatly increased 
by the mystery which hangs over its early history. "Whe- 
ther it was known to the Indians prior to the discovery 
of America^ or first used by Europeans afterwards^ is not 
clearly proved. One tradition says it was discovered by 
an Indian^ who was dying from fever on the bank of a 
river ; in the agony of thirst he crawled to the water with 
a piece of bark which he had stripped off the tree against 
which he had been leaning, and used it as a scoop to raise 
the water to his lips ; the bitter infusion thereby made, so 
wonderfully revived him that he recovered, and made known 
the value of Cinchona bark. The absurditv of this tale is 
apparent to all who are acquainted with the effects of the 
bark. Geoffrey says it was known to the Indians, but was 
by them kept a secret, nntil one of them, in a fit of grati- 
tude for some benefit received, imparted it to the Governor 
of Loxa : this statement also is from many circumstances 
incredible. It received the name of Cinchona from the 
Countess of Cinchon, who in 1638 was wife of the Yice- 
roy of Peru; and hence also the powdered bark received 



320 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



the name of Pnlvis Comitissc^, or Countess's Powder ; its 
value was made known to the natives of Europe chiefly by 
the agency of the Jesuits^ whence it also received the name 
of Jesuits^ Bark. 

The value of the Cinchona barks is now known to de- 
pend entirely upon the presence of two peculiar chemical 
principles^ called Quinine and Cinchonine, which are ex- 
tremely effective in febrile diseases^ especially those- which 
are intermittent. 

The Cinchonas are trees of moderate size^ often not more 
than twenty feet^ and rarely exceeding twice that height ; 
they bear a profusion of small white or roseate tubular 
flowers, and have handsome shining lanceolate leaves 
placed oppositely on short petioles. The species which are 
valuable for their bark are numerous, the following are 
however the principal ones : — 

C. Condamifiea, yielding Crown or Loxa Bark. 

C, micrantha, „ Huanuco, Grey, or Silver Bark. 

C, ovata, „ Ash Cinchona. 

C, purpurea, „ Rusty or Huamalies Bark. 

C. (species ?) „ Calisaya, or Royal Yellow Bark. 

(7. (species ?) „ Red Bark. 
These barks are usually in the form of quills, some sorts 



CASTOR OIL, 321 

not thicker than the little-finger, others nearly as thick as 
aman^s wrist; other sorts are in flattish pieces, and all are 
of various lengths, seldom exceeding two feet. They are 
usually imported in packages called serons, made of dried 
cow-hides. The quantity imported annually is from 80 to 
90 tons; but much difficulty exists in ascertaining the 
exact amount, as in the Board of Trade returns it is, 
strange to say, mixed up with tanners^ barks. 

Castoe Oil. — A fixed oil obtained by expression from 
the seeds (Plate XYI. fig. 82) of Ricinus communis, or 
Talma Christi (Nat. Ord. Eup?oorUacece) , 

This- oil is produced in great abundance both in India, 
its native countrv, and in America and the West Indies. 
Its utility as a medicine has been known from the most 
remote ages. The seeds have been found with Egyptian 
mummies in sarcophagi. The Greeks called it Groton, a 
name now applied to a closely allied genus ; the Romans, 
remarking the striking resemblance in the seeds to the vile 
insects called ticJcs, which infest living animals, especially 
the dog and sheep, called it Ricinus, their name for the ticJc, 

The Raima Christi is a very large herbaceous plant with 
handsome palmate leaves when grown in temperate cli- 
mates, but it attains a larger size and acquires a woody stem 



322 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



of considerable bulk in the tropics ; and although with us 
an annual^ bearing seed and dying within a year^ yet in 
India it is perennial. Castor Oil is very largely imported; 
nearly 500 tons is now the annual supply. 

Cascaeilla BAEKis the bark of a tree^ Croton Meutliena, 
of the same Natural Order as the last {Eujohorhiacem) , 

It is produced in the Bahama Islands ; it is in small 
quills and fragments of quills, rarely more than two or three 
inches in length, and of an ash-grey colour. Besides its 
medicinal properties, which are tonic, it is used in fumiga- 
tions, giving off a remarkably sweet musky odour in burn- 
ing. It is often called Sweet- wood Bark. About 10 or 12 
tons are imported annually. 

Caedamoms. — The ripe capsules or fruit of Mettaria 
Cardamomum. (Nat. Ord. Zingiieracea,) (Plate XYI. 
fig. 81.) — Cardamoms were described in the chapter on 
Spices ; their chief use however is medicinal, as carmina- 
tive and aromatic. The sorts usually employed in medicine 
are the Malabar Cardamoms, of which three varieties occur, 
distinguishable chiefly by their size : they are termed shorts, 
short-longs, and long -longs : the lucidity of these commercial 
names will doubtless please those who quarrel with scientific 
phraseology. 




SLCardainoTn . 82 Castoi: o^l See^. 83 . Iris or Orrice iloot. 
84i . I atdiooiLy. 8 5 . C aanjKor Ice e . 86. Nu^c Tomic a . 




i 



OPIUM, 



323 



Opium. — The juice which flows from incisions made in 
the unripe capsules of the Opium Poppy, Papaver sonmi- 
ferum (jN'at. Ord. Papaveracece), collected, dried, and formed 
into a mass. 

The opium of commerce consists principally of two kinds, 
East Indian and Turkish ; the latter is esteemed most 
highly. In India the Poppy is largely cultivated for the 
production of opium. Dr. Joseph Hooker describes the 
poppy-fields as resembling green lakes studded with w^hite 
water-lihes. His description of the opium culture in India 
is the best account we have of the process ; he says — 

The East India Company grants licenses for the culti- 
vation of the poppy, and contracts for all the produce at 
certain rates, varying according to its quality. 

The poppy flowers in the end of January and the 
beginniDg of February, and the capsules are sliced in 
February and March with a little instrument like a saw, 
made of three serrated plates tied together ; from the in- 
cisions made by this instrument the opium oozes out as a 
milky juice, which as it dries becomes a soft brown sticky 
paste j each morning this paste is scraped off by means of 
small shells, and collected into jars, the contents of which 
are afterwards made into balls of about half a pound weight ; 



324 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



these are often coated with the seeds of some species of 
Rheum (or rhubarb plant) ; the balls are packed into chests^ 
and exported to other countries/^ 

The employment of opium as a narcotic^ especially in the 
preparation of laudanum^ is well known^ and very large 
quantities are brought to this country : in 1852^ 51 tons were 
imported; this will be considered an enormous quantity, 
when the mode by which it is produced and collected is con- 
sidered. 

To attempt to proceed further with the account of the 
productions used in medicine would necessitate the intro- 
duction to this chapter of matters interesting only to the 
pharmaceutist ; those already mentioned constitute all the 
Materia Medica likely to afford interest to the general 
reader. 



325 



DIVISION IV. 
CONSTEUCTIVE MATEEIALS. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

BUILDING AJsD FURNITURE WOODS. 

' And forth, they pass, with pleasure forward led. 
Joying to hear the birds' sweet harmony, 
Which therein shrouded from the tempest dread, 
Seem'd in their song to scorn the cruel sky. 
Much can they praise the trees so straight and high. 
The sailing Pine, the Cedar proud and tall, 
The vine-prop Elm, the Poplar never dry, 
The builder Oak, sole king of forests all. 
The Aspen good for staves, the Cypress funeral. 

' The Laurel, meed of mighty conquerors 
And poets sage, the Fir that weepeth still, 
The Willow worn of forlorn paramours, 
The Yew obedient to the bender's will. 
The Birch for shafts, the Sallow for the mill, 



326 



POPULAE, ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



The Myrrh sweet bleeding in the bitter wound. 

The warlike Beech, the Ash for nothing ill. 

The fruitful Olive, and the Plantain round. 

The carver Holm, the Maple seldom inward sound." 

In attempting to give the history of woods used in the 
construction of buildings^ ships, and furniture, many diffi- 
culties arise, owing to the profound ignorance which pre- 
vails amongst all classes respecting the origin of the greater 
number of the woods of commerce. The varieties brought 
to this country are so numerous that their names alone 
would form an extensive catalogue ; but even in that form 
we have no really reliable work of reference except the Illus- 
trated Catalogue of the Great Exhibition, in which we find 
the admirably classified lists of Mr. W. W. Saunders and 
Messrs. Fauntleroy and Sons ; the former is the most valu- 
able ever yet formed. Besides these we have a small but 
very useful treatise by Mr. Charles Holtzapff'el, with botani- 
cal notes by Dr. Eoyle ; these are the only practical papers 
we can refer to upon a subject of such vast importance, and 
the limits of a single chapter will only admit of a small 
selection being made. Those selected are arranged accord- 
ing to country in five divisions, European, Asiatic, African, 
American, and Australian, and will comprise those only 



EUROPE a:n woods. 



327 



which are imported from foreign countries, and of which 
the name of the producing tree is known. 

European Woods, 

Dantzic Deal^ Spruce Fir, and Spruce. — The wood of 
Abies excelm (iN'at. Ord. Coniferd), 

Dantzic Fir, Eiga Fir^ and Prussian Deal. — The 
wood of Pinu^ sylvestris. 

These Coniferous plants furnish very much of the com- 
mon timber used in the construction of houses, and the 
interior portions and decks of vessels ; also in the inferior 
articles of household furniture. The imports are enormous, 
employing annually more than a hundred large vessels. 

ISToRWAY Birch. Betula alba. (Nat. Ord. Betulacece,) 
— This is an inferior timber, used in common articles of 
furniture and in ship-building. 

Oak. — Of this valuable timber several different species 
are imported, and used chiefly for ship-building. They are 
Baltic Oak, Qiiercus pedunculata (Nat. Ord. Corylacece) ; 
East Country Oak, Q,, ;peduncnlata ; Adriatic Oak, Q. Cerris; 
besides one or two doubtful ones. 

Box-wood. Buxiis Balearica, (Nat. Ord. BujjJwrhia' 
eecB.) — Large quantities of this wood^ amounting to 3000 



POPULAE, ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



or 4000 tons annually^ are iraported from Smyrna^ Con- 
stantinople^ and the Greek Islands; it is used in making 
blocks for wood-engravings^ rollers for calico-printing, 
various toys, and articles of turnery. It is imported in 
pieces about four feet in lengthy and rarely exceeding ten 
inches in diameter, perfectly round, and of a yellowish- 
white colour; it is a very hard close-grained wood, and is 
admirably adapted for the engraver and turner. 

OnANGE. Citms Atirantium (Nat. Ord. Aurantiacea) , — 
A yellowish-white wood, with fine close grain, used for in- 
laying and turnery. 

Walnut. Juglans regia (ISTat. Ord. Juglandacem). — A 
hard handsome wood, of a dark colour, beautifully feathered, 
the colours being a sort of umber and yellow. It is 
largely imported from Eussia and Germany, and from 
North America, for making ornamental furniture. 

Olive-wood. Olea Europ^ea (Nat. Ord. Oleacece). — A 
fine close-grained wood, usually yellowish^ but often beauti- 
fully feathered ; it is much used in small ornamental work 
for furniture. 

Asiatic Woods. 
MouLMEiN Teak, Ceylon Teak, Travancore Teak, 
and East Indian Teak, probably all from Tectona grandis 



ASIATIC WOODS. 



329 



(Nat» Ord. Verbenacece), — This timber^ probably the most 
durable known; is very hard; and abounds in particles of 
sileX; which of course renders it very heavy. This is an 
objection to its use in ship-building, for which purpose it 
would otherwise be the most valuable timber-tree known. 
It is nevertheless very extensively used for that purpose. 

TooN; TuNGA; PoMA; or Jeea-wooD; the wood of Cedrela 
Toona (Nat. Ord. Cedrelaced), resembles mahogany, and is 
very much used for furniture, especially in the East Indies. 
It is not very often imported to this country. 

Amboyna Wood, Kyabuca or Kiabooca Wood. — There 
ai'e several varieties of this very beautiful wood found in 
our timber-yards ; they are probably all furnished by the 
same tree, Fterosjoermum Indicum (Nat. Ord. Byttneria- 
cea). It is most beautifully mottled and curled, of various 
tints from light-red to dark-yellow, and always in small 
lumps, being evidently excrescences or wens cut from 
the trees. The varieties of Amboyna wood are principally 
used for inlaying and by the makers of ornamental snuff- 
boxes. Mr. Holtzapffel mentions the root of the Cocoa-nut 
Palm as being so much like Amboyna wood that it is 
scarcely distinguishable. 

Ebony, Mauritius Ebony, the wood of Biospyros 



330 



POPULAE ECONOMIC BOTATsY. 



Ebenus (Nat. Ord. Ebenaceoi), (Plate XX. fig. 106,) is 
imported in square sticks three or four feet in length and 
seldom exceeding four inches in thickness ; it is much used 
for inlaying and turnerj^ Its colour is black. 

Black Ebony. Biospyros melanoxylon, — This well- 
known black wood is very hard, heavy, and susceptible of 
a high polish. It is imported in sticks rarely more than 
four inches square and four feet in length. About 80 
tons are imported annually. 

East Indian Ebony, or Black-wood, Balbergia lati- 
folia (Nat. Ord. Leguminosce), is also a black heavy wood 
occasionally brought from the East Indies. 

Camphoe Wood. Laums Cam^hora (Nat. Ord. Lau- 
racecB), — This wood emits the camphor odour very strongly, 
and is imported occasionally from Cliina for making cabi- 
nets for entomologists and others. 

Iron Wood. Metrosideros vera (Nat. Ord. MyrtacecB), — 
This wood is immensely hard and heavy. It is imported 
from China in small quantities for various purposes. 

Sandal Wood, Santalum album (Nat. Ord. Santalacece), 
is remarkable for its agreeable fragrance, which is a pre- 
servative from insects ; this wood is much used in making 
work-boxes and other trinkets, small cabinets, etc. 



ASIATIC WOODS. 



331 



Satin Wood (Indian). Swietenia chloroxylon (Nat. 
Ord. CedrelacecB). — This is a handsome hard yellow wood^ 
occasionally imported for cabinet-makers. 

Coromandel or Calamander Wood. Diosjpyros hirsuta 
(Nat. Ord. JEhenacece). — This is a very beautiful furniture- 
wood^ variegated with longitudinal brown and yellow^ or 
yellowish -brown stripes, softening one into the other. 
There are two other varieties of it; called Kadum Beriya 
(supposed to be from a different species, i). Ebe^iaster) 
and Omander, They all come from Ceylon. 

Palmyra, Porcupine, and Speckled Woods — are the 
produce of one or more Palms, chiefly however from Cocos 
micifera, the Cocoa-nut palm. The wood is called Porcu- 
pine or Pahnyra when cut longitudinally, but fine prettily 
speckled veneers for inlaying are made by taking transverse 
sections ; the pieces of speckled wood are consequently very 
small. Brazil also furnishes these woods. 

Jak Wood. Artocarpus integrifolia (Nat. Ord. Artocar- 
pacea). — Jak or Jack-wood is from the Breadfruit-tree; 
it is of a yellowish colour, resembling orange-wood, and is 
imported to this country chiefly for making backs for hair- 
brushes and for inlaying in marqueterie floors, etc. 



332 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



African Woods. 

The woods of Africa are very few in number, and only one 
is imported in considerable quantities : it is the 

Afeican Oak, or African Teak. Oldfieldia Africana 
(Nat. Ord. Eujohorhiacece) , — Long as this valuable wood 
has been known, it was only in 1850 that its botanic cha- 
racters were determined. In consequence of some seeds 
germinating at Kew, it was at once ascertained by Mr. Ben- 
tham to be a new genus of EujphorhiacecB, to which the 
name of Oldfieldia was given, in honour of the gentleman 
who sent the seeds. For some particular purposes in ship- 
building, this timber is unrivalled, but its great weight 
prevents its general application. The imports are con- 
siderable. 

A species of Ebony is also frequently brought from the 
African Gold Coast in small pieces, or sticks, about two 
inches square and three or four feet in length, but nothing 
is known of the tree which produces it. It is chiefly used 
for inlaying, turning, and for the handles of surgical in- 
struments. 

American Woods. 

THE woods of north AMERICA. 

The greatest portion of the building timbers imported 



AMERICAN WOODS. 



333 



consist of the Coniferous and other woods from T^orth 
America : thus the 

White Pine or Deal of the United States of America^ the 
produce of Pinus Strohiis, The Yellow Pine or Deal^ of 
Pinus pahistris and P, mitis. The Eed Pine or Deal^ of 
Presinosa. The Pitch-Pine^ Yirginian Pine^ and Georgian 
Pine^ of Pinus rigida. The Hackmatack or Tamarack^ of 
Larix Americana, The Yirginian Eed Cedar, of Junijoenis 
Virginiana. The Eed or Pencil Cedar, of Jimipenis Ber- 
mudiana. The White Spruce, of Abies alba; and the 
Hemlock Spruce, of Abies Canadensis ^ — constitute the most 
common Deals, Pines, and Cedars used in carpentry ; they 
all belong to the Natural Order Coniferce, and the trade 
in these timbers constitutes one of the most important 
branches of British commerce. 

Quebec Oak is produced by Qitercus alba {Cori/lacece), 
This wood is also sometimes called White Oak j it is used 
in ship-building, etc. 

Eed Oak is from Qiiercus rubra; the Black Oak from 
Q. tinctoria ; and the Live Oak from Q. virens. 

The Walnut and Hickory woods belong to the Natural 
Order Juglandacece, We import the Black Walnut, pro- 
duced by Juglans nigra; White AYalnut, or Butter-nut 



334 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



wood^ by/, cinerea; and Hickory, by Carya alba. These 
woods are cliiefly used in making furniture, but Hickory is 
most valuable for hand-spikes. 

Maple, Bird^s-eye Maple, and Curly Maple are all va- 
rieties produced by Acer saccharmuMy the Sugar Maple 
(Nat. Ord. Acer ace cb), 

LocusT-WooD. — The wood of Hpnencea Courharil (Nat. 
Ord. Legumhio8(2), It is hard, very tough, and is much used 
in making trenails for ship-carpenters ; its colour is a light 
yellow. The quantity imported in the form of trenails is 
very considerable. 

THE WOODS OE THE AMERICAN ISLANDS. 

BuLLY-THEE WooD, Black Bully. AcTiras Sapota. 
{Nat. Ord. Sapotaceoi.) — The Sapodilla-tree is a very lofty 
timber-tree, furnishing a valuable hard wood of a greenish 
colour ] it is now often imported, and used chiefly in ship- 
building. 

Sabicit. — The wood of Acacia formosa (Nat. Ord. Legii- 
minosiji). This wood has acquired some interest from its 
having been used in constructing the stairs of the Crystal 
Palace in Hyde Park, where its durability was subjected to 
the severest test, and after six months^ use the steps hardly 



AMEUTCAN WOODS. 



335 



exhibited any signs of wear. The Sabicu or Sabicue wood 
is extremely hard and tough] it has a dull red colour, and 
close short grain. It is imported from Cuba, 

Cedae, (Jamaica and Honduras). Cedrela odorata (Nat. 
Ord. Cedrelacece), (Plate XX. fig. 104.) — This cedar is im- 
ported in large logs often three or four feet square ; it is 
soft and red, resembling the pencil cedar. Its use is for 
making the inside portions of furniture. 

Mahogany. Swietenia MaJiagoni (Nat. Ord. Cedrela- 
ceo), (Plate XX. fig. 102.) — This wood is too well known 
to need description ; but few, who have it constantly before 
their eyes in some form of domestic furniture, reflect upon 
the difliculties and dangers of those who are engaged in 
supplying this favourite wood to the European markets. 
The mahogany grows in dense' forests, where it forms one 
of the most lofty and gigantic of tropical trees. The ma- 
hogany-seeker has to mount to the top of some high tree of 
the forest, whence he surveys the sea of verdure around 
him, and easily detects the trees he looks for by their mag- 
nificent dimensions ; he then, with a small pocket-compass, 
which is his most valued friend, takes the bearings of those 
which he sees, and having descended, proceeds from his 
place of observation in search of them, marking the various 



336 



POPULAH ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



stems of trees which he passes^ in order that he may safely 
retrace his steps. With immense labour and patience he 
fells the trees and lops and squares them^ after which he 
has to cut roads through the forest to the nearest stream^ to 
which the enormous logs of mahogany have to be drawn by 
timber- carriages and horses^ and are there collected into 
large rafts ; or each log is marked, and allowed to swim 
down the stream to some place where its progress is arrested 
by persons employed for that purpose. The quantity of 
mahogany imported is immense, but the statistics of the 
timber-trade are so unsatisfactory that the author prefers 
omitting to give definite quantities, to the risk of pro- 
pagating error. It is chiefly imported from Honduras 
and Cuba, but several of the West India Islands furnish 
mahogany. 

Lignum Yitje. Guaiacum officinale (Nat. Ord. Zygo- 
phyllacece). (Plate XX. fig. 103.) — This very important 
wood comes chiefly from Jamaica; its chief use is in mak- 
ing blocks and pulleys for ships^ rigging, and it is much 
used by turners for various articles requiring a hard close- 
grained wood ; it also has some medicinal properties, and 
finds place in our pharmacopoeia. It is imported in billets 
about three feet in length and a foot in diameter; the 



AMERICAN WOODS. 



337 



heart-wood is of a dark-brown colour, and intensely hard 
and heavy. 

Lance Wood, Diiguetia Qidlarensis (Nat. Ord. Anona- 
cece), is imported in poles fifteen to twenty feet in length, 
and six or seven inches in diameter, covered with a thin wrin- 
kled bark. Lance-wood is much used for the shafts of gigs 
and other similar vehicles, and for a variety of purposes re- 
quiring great strength and elasticity. It is imported from 
Cuba and from Guiana. 

Greenheart, Nedandra Rodicsi (Nat. Ord. Lauracece), 
is a very fine, durable, hard wood, often imported from 
Demerara, and used as a substitute for Lignum-vitse, w^hich 
it slightly resembles ; latterly it has been employed in phar- 
macy, in consequence of its yielding a chemical principle 
called Beeherine. 

Satin Wood. Maba Guianensis (?) (Nat. Ord. W^ena- 
ce^jB,) — This beautiful wood, which has a light canary-yellow 
colour and satiny lustre, is imported chiefly from Nassau, in 
New Providence, one of the Bahama Islands. It comes in 
square logs about ten feet in length, and about eight inches 
square, and is used only for furniture and small fancy arti- 
cles of cabinet-work. 

Partridge Wood, Heisteria coccmea ? (Nat. Ord. Olea- 

z 



338 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



cece^ — It is much doubted whether this is the wood of 
Heisteria ; some affirm it to be the produce of Andira in- 
ermis, a leguminous tree. It comes both from the West 
Indies and the Brazils^ in tolerable-sized planks ; it is of a 
reddish colour, beautifully streaked with parallel lines of a 
darker colour. Probably the woods of several trees bear 
the same name. 

Cocus or KoKRA Wood. Lepidostac7ii/s Roxhurghii. 
(Nat. Ord. Scepacem) — This wood is usually imported in 
short logs of about six or eight inches^ diameter, having 
bark and sap-wood of a light colour, while the heart- 
wood is of a rich deep brown, and extremely hard ; it is 
much used in the manufacture of flutes and similar musical 
instruments. It comes from Cuba and other West India 
Islands. 

Zebra Wood, Guettarda speciosa (Nat. Ord. CincJio- 
nacecB), is brought in small planks from the West Indies ; 
its colour is intermediate between those of mahogany and 
rose-wood ; its variegations are less dark and more wavy than 
those of rose-wood. It is much valued for the finer kinds 
of furniture-wood. 

Tortoise-wood is probably a variety of the same species. 



AMERICAN WOODS. 



339 



The AVoods oe South America. 

EosE-wooD. — The wood of several undetermined species 
of Triptolomcea (Nat. Ord. LeguminoscB) . — The varieties of 
Rose- wood are too well known to need description ; they are 
exported from the Brazilian ports^ in planks rarely exceeding 
twelve feet in lengthy flat on one side and round on the 
other ; each being evidently one half of the stem^ with the 
bark removed. The removal of the bark and splitting of 
the stem is probably for the purpose of ascertaining the 
quality of the wood before incurring the expense of trans- 
portation. Yiolet-wood and King-wood^ two other beauti- 
ful Brazilian woods resembling the Eose-woods^ are probably 
derived from other species of the same genus. They are in 
much smaller pieces, usually in round sticks about four or 
five feet in length, and varying in thickness from two to six 
inches ; the colours are clearer than those of Rose-wood. 

Snake Wood or Letter Wood, Piratinerct Griiianensis, 
(Nat. Ord. Artocarpacece,) — Probably the most beautiful of 
all fancy woods j it is of a rich chestnufc-brown colour, 
beautifully mottled with large cloudy spots of deep umber- 
brown, strongly resembling the markings of some serpents. 
It is very scarce, and is only obtainable in small pieces ; it 
is in sticks of two or three inches' diameter, rarely reaching 



340 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



five or six inches^ and is merely the central heart-wood of 
a large tree. 

MoEA WooD^ Mora excelsa (Nat. Ord. Legummosce) , is 
the timber of one of the most majestic trees of Guiana^ 
reaching the height of one hundred feet. Its colour is 
darker than mahogany^ and its grain, close and tough, ren- 
ders it very valuable for ship-building. The imports of this 
wood from British Guiana are increasing considerably. 

Purple Wood, or Purple Heart. Copaiba puhiflom. 
(Nat. Ord. Leguminosm,) — Another of the w^oods of Guiana, 
which is extensively used for making the sticks of mrusk^ 
ramrods. Its colour is peculiar, being a sort of puce ; it 
is imported only in small pieces. 

Australian and New Zealand "Woods. 

HuoN Pine. Dacryclium Franlclinii (Nat. Ord. Tax- 
acecE), — Tlhis timber of a large tree belonging to the Yew 
tribe is valuable for ship-building, for which purpose it is 
occasionally imported. 

Blue Gum Wood. Eucalyptus piperita. (Nat. Ord. 
Myrtacece,) (Plate XX. fig. 105.) — One of the most lofty 
trees in the world, often rising two hundred feet in height, 
with fine column-like stems rising one hundred to one 



AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND WOODS. 



341 



hundred and fifty feet without a branch. The wood is very 
hard and difficult to work. A single plank was imported 
into Liverpool, intended, but too late, for the Great Exhi- 
bition ; it measured one hundred feet in length, two feet 
six inches broad, and three inches in thickness, and sold 
for more than £100. It is used chiefly for ship-building 
purposes. 

Eed Gum Wood. Encalyptns resinifera. — Wood very 
similar to the last, but rarely in such large logs. 

Botany Bay Oak, Beef -wood. He -Oak, She -Oak, 
and PoEEST Oak, names applied to different species of 
Casuarina (Nat. Ord. CasuarinacecB) , — The species of which 
the timber is imported are (7. tomlosa, the Porest-oak; 
C. paludosa, the Swamp-oak ; C equisetifolia, the He-oak ; 
and C. stricta, the She-oak and Beef-wood. This pecuHar 
group of trees, called Botany Bay Oahs, all yield wood of 
a similar character, and receive the above names indiscrimi- 
nately. It is ornamental, and well adapted for inlaying and 
marqueterie ; its colour is a light yellowish-brown, marked 
often with short veins of a redder colour. 

New Zealand Pine, or Cowdie Pine, Damara Austm- 
lis, (Nat. Ord. ConifercB,) — This timber is much valued for 
masts and spars, for which purpose much is imported for 



34 a POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 

use in our navy -yards. It yields the largest and strongest 
spars of any known tree. 



There is no branch of Economic Botany requiring the in- 
vestigation of men of science more than the history of 
Timber-trees ; it is lamentable to see talented botanists la- 
bouring over the definition of some species or variety^ pos- 
sessing no other interest than the technical difficulties of its 
characters^ whilst we are totally ignorant of even the names 
of the plants producing two-thirds of our most valuable 
timber and furniture woods. This circumstance also offers 
an argument to those non-scientific persons who cavil at 
the technicology of science^ and would have common ver- 
nacular names applied to all things ; for amongst the woods 
of commerce this practice has prevailed^ and has produced 
such a mass of errors^ that it appears almost hopeless to 
expect to unravel them. For instance^ we have a dozen 
different varieties called Iron-wood; half-a-dozen Beef- 
tvoods ; four or five Satin-ivoods j and a host of others, 
named according to the fancy of the wood-cutters, shippers, 



CONCLUSION. 



343 



or importers ; until it has become difficult for a dealer to 
know which sort of Iron-vjood, Beef-wood, Satin-wood, etc., 
his customer wants. The scientific botanist would have 
chosen less familiar, but certainly more definite, terms. 

This brings us to the conclusion of an attempt to describe 
the most important products of the Vegetable Kingdom 
which constitute tbe foreign commerce of our country. 
To many the number of articles will be a matter of sur- 
prise; but, numerous as the products are which the energy 
of man has discovered for his use and profit, they are few 
compared with those which a bountiful Providence has 
still in store for us. Not a year passes but adds to our 
riches in this respect ; and when public attention and the 
investigations of scientific men are more fully directed to 
this branch of learning, an immense harvest will be reaped 
from the now unknown treasures of the vegetable kingdom. 
Many may say. Have we not all we require ? The answer 
to this is, We might have said the same before Dr. Mont- 
gomery discovered that the Malays made the handles of 
their hatchets of the hardened juice of a tree, and yet what 
inestimable benefits has that discovery conferred ! How 
would the difficulties of the Submarine Telegraph have 
been overcome without Gutta Percha? In order to 



344 



POPULAR ECONOMIC BOTANY. 



direct attention more fully to the vast importance of this 
study. Museums of Raw Produce should be formed on 
a large scale, showing not merely the products themselves, 
but all their known applications. At present we have only 
two rudimentary estabKshments of this kind, both too 
small to be of any great service, though useful in their 
way : they are the Botanical Museum at Kew, and the Col- 
lection of Imports at Liverpool, made by the author for the 
Great Exhibition, and now in the Eree Public Museum of 
Liverpool. 



INDEX. 





Page 




Page 


A AT 


9,^ ^ 


A 1 TYi v» ri - 1 i^y/i Q n 
xLlLLLUJLitlj tl Ul U-Clli 








_______ 1/ Q 1 ov» Q 






9Ad 










A Tn Q r\ An 








A TYlP-'f'QISI . 




African Woods 


... 332 




. 182 


Oak. . . . 


... 332 


Ambojrna Wood . . . 


. 329 


Teak . . . 


... 332 


American Woods . . . 


. 332 




... 332 




, 228 


Hemp . . . 


... 183 




. 115 




... 302 




. 115 


Al 


... 213 




. 117 




. . 49, 192 


Anotto 


. 228 




... 192 




. 228 


Alkanet Koot . . 


. . .233 




. 224 




... 313 




. 298 




... 160 


Arrowroot, West Indian 


. 76 




. . . 100 


East Indian . . . 


. 77 


Almond, Sweet 


... 57 




. 78 


Bitter . . . 


... 59 


Tahiti 





346 



INDEX. 





Page 




25 


Attar of Hoses . 


277 


Australian Woods . 


. . 340 


— Copal . 


. . 247 


Avignon Berries 


. . 219 


Babool Bark. 


190 


Gum .... 


242 


Balsam, Canada 


. . 351 




327 


Bamia 


142 




45 


Bandikai .... 


142 


Bang • • 


155 


Barba HisT)anica 


. . 161 




61 


Bark, Acacia 


190 




190 


Cassia .... 


92 




. . 110 


Clove .... 


93 


Culilawan . . 


. . 93 




188 


Mangrove . . 


. . 189 


Oak . • . . 


. . 187 


Pomegranate 


. . 190 




. . 7 


— — Long-eared . . 


. . 7 



Page 

Barley, Common .... 7 

Spring 7 

Winter 7 

— Sprat 7 

Battledore .... 7 

Bar Wood 206 

Bast 166 

Beans, American .... 17 

Egyptian 17 

French 18 

Haricot (American) . 18 

--(Frencli) . , 18 

Beeberine 337 

Beef-wood 341 

Beet Sugar 139 

Ben IN'ut 271 

Bere 7 

Bigg 7 

Birch 327 

Bird's-eye Maple . . . . 334 
Black BuUy Wood . . . 334 

Ebony 33C 

Walnut Wood . . . 33c 

Blue Gum Wood .... 340 
Boehmeria Flax .... 183 
Botany Bay Oak . . . . 341 
Bowstring Hemp .... 183 
Box Wood 327 



INDEX. 



347 



Page 

Brazil Nut 51 

Brazilwood 204 

Braziletto Wood .... 206 

Brazilian Tea 126 

BresH de St. Martha ... 203 
Brown Catechu .... 198 

Buck- wheat 16 

Building Woods .... 325 
BuUy-tree Wood .... 334 
Bully Wood, Black ... 334 

Bubush 168 

Butternut 64 

Butter Nut Wood ... 333 

Cacao 134 

Calamander Wood . . . 331 

Calamus Eoot 300 

Caloee Hemp 183 

Camphor 314 

Wood 330 

Cam-wood 205 

Camata 189 

Camatina 189 

Canada Balsam 251 

Canes, Malacca 304 

Partridge 305 

■ Penang Lawyer . . 305 

Bamboo 306 



Page 

Canes, Jambees .... 306 

Eattan 167 

Eeed 806 

Canella Bark . ^ . . . 110 
Caoutchouc . . . . . . 253 

Caper ........ 141 

Capsicum. ..... .106 

Caraway Seed . . . . . 112 

Cardamoms .... 107, 322 

Malabar ..... 107 

Ceylon 108 

J^va .108 

Eound 108 

Cluster 108 

Carob 49 

Carrageen 303 

CascariUa Bark 322 

Cassava 79 

Cassaripe 78 

Cassia 92 

Lignea 92 

Buds 92 

Fistula 818 

Castor on 821 

Castanha Nut 51 

Catechu 193 

Pegu 198 

Brown ... . . .198 



348 



INDEX. 



Page 

Ceci 19 

Cedar, Eed 333 

Pencil 333 

■ Yirginian Eed ... 333 

— — Jamaica 335 

Honduras 335 

Ceylon Teak 328 

Chay-root 212 

Che-root 212 

CKestnnt 64 

■ American ..... 65 

Chicory ..... ^ . 132 

Chocolate 134 

Churrus 153 

China Grass 163 

Chick-pea 19 

Cicer . 19 

Cinnamon 88 

Citron 41 

Clover, Dutch 20 

American 20 

Clove Bark 93 

Cloves 98 

Cob-nut 61 

Cocoa, or Cocao .... 134 
Cocoa, or Coker Nut ... 67 
Cocoa Nut fibre .... 161 
Cocus Wood 338 



Page 

Coffee 129 

Coir 161 

Colophony 250 

Constructive Materials . . 325 
Coquilla Nut . . . 166,297 

Coriander 113 

Cork 294 

Cork-wood 294 

Cork-tree Bark 188 

Coromandel "Wood . . . 331 

Cottonwool 170 

Seed 269 

Cowdie Pine 341 

Cranberry 48 

Cui4y Maple ..... 334 

Currants . 26 

Cutch 193 

Dammar 247 

DantzicDeal ..... 327 

Fir 327 

Darra 14 

Dates . 30 

White ...... 30 

Tafilat 30 

Date Sugar 14.0 

Deal, Dantzic . . . . .327 
Prussian 327 



INDEX. 



349 





Page 




Page 


Deal, White . . . . 


. 333 


Essence of IN'eroli 


. . 273 




. 333 


European Woods . . 


. . 327 


Eed 


. 333 








. 75 


Earinaceous Products 


. 1 




„ 191 




. . 71 


Dragon's Blood . . . 


. 233 


Fig 






. 183 












. 327 


East Country Oak . . 


. 327 




. 327 


East Indian Arrowroot . 


. 77 


Elax 


. 148 


Ebony . . 


. 328 




. 148 








Teak . . . 


. 320 


ISTew Zealand . 


. 164 






Ebony 


. 329 




, 215 




. 329 




. 341 


Black 


. 330 


Eorbidden Eruit . . 


. 38 


East Indian . . . 


. 330 


Eolia Malabathri . . 


. 90 




. 332 




. 18 




. 208 




. 29 


Egyptian Beans . . . 


. 17 




. 250 




. 19 


Eruits 


23 




. 164 


Eurniture Woods . . 


. 325 


Embden Groats . . . 


. 6 




. 207 




. 8 


old . . . . . 


. 207 




. 272 


young .... 


218 


Essence of Lemons . . 


. 272 






of Bergamot . . 


. 273 


GaUs 


. 326 


de Petit Grain . 


. 273 




. . 326 



350 



INDEX. 



Page 

Gambier 193 

Gamboge 235 

Garancine 211 

Gawatlia 160 

Garlic . 144 

Georgian Pine 333 

German Tinder .... 295 

Ginger 104 

J amaica "WTiite . , . 105 

Black ... 106 

Barbadoes .... 105 

African 105 

East Indian .... 105 

Tellicherry .... 105 

Malabar 106 

Gobbio ....... 142 

Gobbe 67 

Gombo 142 

Gommnti 164 

Gram 19 

Grape 23 

Grains d' Avignon .... 219 
Grains of Paradise . . . 108 

Groats 6 

Greenheart 337 

Ground JS^nt 65 

Green Ebony 208 

Gmnea Corn 14 



Page 

Gunjah 154 

Gnava . 43 

Gnayaba 43 

Guttapercha 255 

Gums used in the Arts . . 239 

Gum Arabic 240 

Acacia 241 

AsafoBtida .... 308 

Ammoniacum . . . 310 

- — Babool 190 

Barbary 241 

Bassora 245 

• Benzoin 301 

Benjamin 301 

Copal 246 



Brazilian . . . 246 

African . . . 246 

xlustraKan . . 247 

East Indian . . 247 



Dammar 247 

Dragon 243 

East Indian .... 242 

Elemi 311 

Elastic 253 

Gedda 241 

Gattie 242 

Galbanum .... 309 

Juniper 249 



INDEX. 



351 



Page 

Gum Kawrie 247 

Kuteera 245 

Mastic 248 

Myrrh ...... 311 

Oomrawattee . . . 242 

Opoponax 310 



Sagapemim .... 309 

Sandarach .... 249 

Scammony .... 310 

Senegal . . . . . 241 



Storax 302 

Styrax 302 

— — Tragacanth .... 243 

Hackmatack 333 

Hazel Nut 60 

Hemp 151 

Bengal 158 

-Jute .157 

Manilla 158 

Sun 158 

— — Brown Indian . . , 182 

African 183 

Duchai ..... 183 

Bowstring .... 183 

Caloee ...... 183 

He- Jalap 317 

He-Oak 341 



Page 

Hickory ISTut 60 

Wood 334 

Hog-nut 64 

Hominy 10 

Hop 144 

Huon Pine 341 

India Eubber 253 

Indian Corn 9 

Indian Grass Matting . . 181 

Indigo. ....... 292 

Iris Eoot 300 

Irish Moss 303 

Iron-wood 330 

Italian Eye-grass Seed . . 21 

Jak Wood -331 

Jalap 316 

' He or Male .... 317 

Jamaica Pepper .... 100 

JeeaWood ...... 329 

J erusalem Filbert .... 60 

Jetee 182 

Joar 14 

Johannisbrod 49 

Juniper Berries .... 298 

Jute 156 

Juyia .51 



352 



INDEX. 



Page 

Kadi-kane 15 

Kadum Eerija Wood. . .338 

Kala-kangnee 15 

Kassu 198 

Kawrie Gum 247 

Kayo Umm* Panjang. . . 126 

Kenguel 133 

King Wood 339 

KiaboocaWood .... 329 

Kokra Wood 338 

Kora-Kang 15 

Koongoonie . . . . . . 15 

KyabucaWood .... 329 

Kyar 161 

Labrador Tea 127 

Lac Dye 232 

Lance Wood 339 

Lemon 39 

Gaeta 39 

Imperial 39 

Wax 39 

Lentils 19 

Letter-wood 339 

Libi-dibi 191 

Libi-divi 191 

Ligniun Vitae 336 

Lima-wood 203 



Page 

Lime ........ 40 

Liquorice 313 

Litcbi 44 

Locust 49 

Wood 334 

Logwood 201 

Lupins ....... 19 

Mace 97 

Madder Eoot .... 209 

East Indian . . . 211 

Maize 9 

Starcb . . . • . 83 

Mandiocca 79 

Mangkudu 212 

Mango 43 

Mangrove Bark .... 189 
Manilla Hemp . . . .158 

Manna 312 

Manna Croup ..... 86 

Male Jalap 31 

Mahogany 335 

Maple, Bird's-eye .... 334 

Curly 334 

Sugar 140 

Malacca Canes .... 304 
Malaguetta Pepper . . . 108 
Marking Nut 56 



INDEX. 



353 



Page 

Mastic . 248 

Mate 125 

Materia Medica . ^ . . .307 
Mauritius Ebony . * . . .329 
Medicinal Products ... 307 

Melasses 139 

Mexican Tea 127 

MiUet 15 

Turkish 14 

Italian 15 

German 15 

Miserable 135 

Molasses ...... 139 

Monkey Grass .... 164 

Momeea 153 

Mora Wood 340 

Morgbaee 183 

MoreU 146 

Mountain Tea 126 

Moulmein Teak .... 328 
Mummy Wheat .... 4 

MunduK 66 

Munjeet 211 

Mimjeeth 211 

Mustard Ill 

Myrobalans 198 

Myrabolams 198 

Neb-neb ...... 192 



Page 

JNTew Zealand Flax ... 164 

Woods . . 340 

Pine ... 341 

Negro Corn 14 

Neilgherry Nettle ... 183 

Nib-nib .193 

Nicaragua Wood . . . 203 
Norway Birch .... 327 

Nutgalls 228 

Nutmegs 95 

Long 96 

SheU 96 

Wild 96 

False 97 

Ackwai 97 

Brazilian 97 

Clove 97 

Nux y omica 314 

Oak 327 

— Botany Bay ... 341 

Forest 341 

He 341 

Quebec 333 

Eed 333 

~ — She 341 

Baltic 327 

— — Adriatic 327 

~ East Country , . . 327 



354 



INDEX. 



Page 

Oak, African 332 

Galls ...... 226 

Bark 187 

Oat 5 

— mite 6 

— — Black 6 

Tartarian .... 6 

Potato 6 

Oils and Oil Seeds ... 259 

Oils, Essential 272 

OHs 

Almond 265 

Aniseed ...... 276 

Bergamot 273 

Caraway 277 

Cassia ...... 276 

Cetronelle . . . 274, 279 

Cloves 276 

Cocoa ]N"ut 263 

Cinnamon 276 

Indian Grass .... 279 

Juniper 274 

Koosum ...... 268 

Lavender 275 

Lemons 272 

Lemon Grass .... 279 

Mint 276 

Molucca Lemon Grass . 280 



Page 

Oils, continued : — 

JN'eroli 276 

Nutmegs . . . . . 276 

Olive 264 

Orange 273 

Orange-leaf 273 

Orange-flower .... 273 
Origanum ..... 275 

Peppermint 276 

Pimento 276 

Palm 261 

Eoosa 279 

Eoses . 277 

Sosemary 275 

Eape 265 

Thyme 275 

Turpentine 272 

Seed 265 

Okra . .142 

Okro , 142 

Old Fustic ...... 207 

Olive . 34 

^ Wood 328 

OmanderWood .... 331 

Onion 143 

One-grained Wheat ... 4 

Opium 323 

Orange, Sweet .... 36 



INDEX. 355 



Orange, Bitter . . 


Page 

. . 37 


Pepper, White . . . 


Page 

, 103 




. , 37 




103 


Navel . . , . 


, 38 




106 


Brazilian . . 


. . 38 


Malagueta . . . 


. 108 


— — Tangerine . . 


. . 38 


Persian Berries . . . 


. 219 


Wood . . . 


328 


Peruvian Bark . . . 


. 318 


Orcliella Weed . . 


. , 220 


Pi-pi 


192 


Orcliil 


224 




, 165 




. 300 




. 165 




127 




. 47 


Otalieite Salep . . 


. , 84 


Fibre . . 


. 160 


Otto of Eoses . . . 


, 277 


Pichnrim Beans . . . 


. 94 






Pine, White . . . . 


333 




. 299 


YeUow . . . . 


333 


Paddy ..... 


13 


"Eed . . , . . 


. 333 


Palm Cabbage . . . 


. . 32 


-Pitch , . . . . 


. 333 


Palmyra Wood . . 


. . 331 


Virginian . . . 


. 333 


Fibre .... 


. . 182 


New Zealand . , 


. 341 




. . 182 


Georgian . . . 


. 341 


ParaKut . . . . 


51 




, 341 


Grass .... 


. . 165 




340 




, 124 


Pistachio Nut .... 


. 67 


Parkinsonia Fibre 


. , 182 


Pita ....... 


. 160 


Partridge Wood . . 


. . 338 


Pite Hemp . . . .* , 


. 160 




. . 17 


Pitch ....... 


, 252 


Peach Wood . . . 


, . 203 


Polish Wheat . . . . 


4 


Pegu Catecbu . . . 


, , 198 




. 33 


Pepper, Black . . 


. , 102 


• Bark . . . . . 


. 190 



356 



INDEX. 



Page 

PoonaWood 329 

Porcupine Wood .... 331 

Pot Plant 53 

Prickly Pear 44 

Prunes 29 

Puclia-pat 299 

Purple Wood 340 

Quebec Oak 333 

Quercitron Bark . . . .215 

E^aisins ....... 24 

Sultana 25 

Black 25 

Muscatel 25 

Valencia 25 

Lexia 25 

Denia 25 

Malaga 25 

E.ed Smjrrna ... 25 

E-attan Canes ..... 167 

lied Cedar 333 

Oak 333 

— -Gunk Wood .... 341 

Eed Smyrna JSTut .... 60 



• Haisin ... 25 

Eevalenta Arabica ... 19 
Ebea fibre 183 



Page 

Eice 11 

starch 83 

paper ...... 295 

EigaFir ....... 327 

Eock Moss 225 

Eoosa-ke-til 278 

EoosaOil .278 

Eose Wood 339 

Eosin 250 

Eushes, BuU- 168 

Dutch 304 

Eye 8 

Sandalwood 330 

Eed 206 

Satin Wood . . . 331-337 

Sabicue Wood . . . • . 334 

Safflower 216 

Saffron 217 

Sago 81 

flour 82 

meal 82 

Salep 85 

Saloop 85 

SapanWood 205 

Eoot ... 205 

Sapucaia Nut 53 

Sassafras Nuts 94 



INDEX. 



357 





Page 




Page 


Saunders Wood . . 


. . 206 




. . 142 




, . 86 




. . 86 




. . 86 


Spirits of Turpentine 


. . 250 




. . 86 




. . 327 




. . 86 


White .... 


. . 333 


Seeds : — 






. . 333 


Flax 


. . 267 


Fir 


. . 327 


Teel 


. . 267 


Speckled Wood . . 


. . 331 


Til 


. . 267 


Spelt Wheat . . . 


. . 4 




. . 267 




. . 161 




. . 267 


'Nuts .... 


. . 61 




. . 267 




. . 87 




. . 267 




. . 71 




. . 268 


St. John's Bread . . 


. . 49 




. . 268 




. . 220 




. . 269 




. . 158 




. . 269 




. . 182 


Poppy , . . . 


. . 269 




. . 54 




. . 317 




. . 54 




. . 341 




. . 135 




. . 158 


Beet .... 


. . 139 




. .220 








oo 






Silk, Vegetable 


. . 181 




. . 155 




. . . 155 


Sweet Wood Bark 


. . 322 




. . 339 








. . 54 


Taag 




Soy 


. . . 142 


TafilatDate . . . 


. . 30 



358 



INDEX. 



Page 

Tamarack Wood .... 333 

Tamarind 42 

Tapioca 79 

Tar 251 

Tares . 18 

Tartarean Oat 6 

Tea 118 

Black 118 

Green 118 

Assam 118 

Paraguay .... 124-127 

Apalachian 125 

JN'eTT J ersey ..... 125 

of Heaven 126 

Labrador 126 

Brazilian 126 

Mountain 126 

Mexican 127 

Oswego 127 

Toolsie 127 

Teak, MoiOmein .... 328 

African 332 

Travancore . . . .328 

East Indian .... 328 

— —Ceylon 328 

Teazles 303 

Terra J aponica . . . .193 
Thus 250 



Page 

Timothy Grass Seed ... 21 

Tobacco 284 

Tonca Bean ...... 298 

Tonga Bean 298 

Tonquin Bean 298 

Toolsie Tea 127 

Toon Wood 329 

Tortoise Wood .... 338 

Tons les Mois 86 

Treacle 139 

Tree of Long Life ... 126 

Truffles 145 

Turkish MiHet 14 

Turmeric 203 

China 204 

Bengal 204 

Madras 204 

Malabar 204 

J ava 204 

TungaWood 329 

Turpentine 249 

Urena 86 

Yalonia . 189 

Yanile 109 

YaniUa 109 

Yegetable Silk . . . 181-183, 



INDEX. 



359 



Page 

Vegetable TaUow .... 280 

Indian . 280 

Chinese . 280 

Vegetable Wax, Chinese . 281 
S. American. 281 



Myrtle . . 281 

Vegetable Ivory . . . .296 

Vetches 18 

Violet Wood 339 

Virginian Eed Cedar . . 333 
Pine 333 

Wahiut 62 

Black 328 

White 333 

Wood 328 

Warree 15 

Water Melon 48 



Wheat, Winter .... 2 



Page 

Wheat, Summer .... 2 

Mummy 3 

Polish 4 

Spelt 4 

One-grained .... 4 

White Spruce 333 

Oat 6 

Lupins 19 

Date 30 

Wild Locust 49 

Wool, Cotton . . . . .170 

Yellow Pine ..... 333 

Deal 333 

Berries 219 

Wood 205 

Yerba 129 

Yercum fibre 182 

Young Fustic 208 



printed by 
john edwaed tayloe, little queen street, 
Lincoln's inn fields. 



